The YA Spill (#7)

 Welcome to The YA Spill! 

The YA Spill is a (mostly) weekly meme where I'll have Q&A with YA book bloggers. As a founding member of a YA book blog, I've had the pleasure of getting to know many bloggers and even though I've stepped back from blogging in that capacity as often, I'm still a huge fan of reading YA book blogs and love hearing the blogger's opinions on the hottest books out there. 

So each week I'll be spotlighting anywhere from one to three YA book bloggers with a few questions on what they're currently loving and can't wait to read next. If you're a YA book blogger, and you'd like to participate in The YA Spill, please email me at cindythomaswrites (@) gmail (dot) com. 

 Please welcome this week's awesome participant:

Kris from Imaginary Reads

(Blog / Twitter / Goodreads / Facebook / Pinterest) 

 

What is the most recent book that you've read and loved? 

This is a toughie. There are so many outstanding books in the market nowadays. I’m going to go ahead and seriously talk about the most recent book I read that made my favorites shelf, which would be Endlessly by Kiersten White. I love Evie's wit and humor. And, bleep, I fell in love with a faerie midway through the book! My poor little heart is broken over the end of the trilogy.

What book recently surprised you? 

Tiger Lily. I knew it was going to be a dark retelling of Peter Pan, but it still blew me away. The characters are all broken and flawed yet compelling and endearing in their own ways. Each character has a story to tell, and I ended up sympathizing even with characters I wanted to hate. Also, the world building was spectacular. This book is a keeper.

What types of books do you wish there were more of? 

I'd like to see more contemporary novels out there, especially ones that get me thinking like Sarah Desen's books. It’s getting harder to find them with all the paranormal and urban fantasy books out there. I love paranormal and urban fantasy, but I like to read a good contemporary too!

The bigger problem I'm experiencing is finding YA books with diversity. Recently, I read Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan and found myself cheering over the great diversity I found in the book. It’s the book that made me realize just how few books there are in the YA market that cover diversity, so few that I'm ecstatic whenever I find even the smallest hint of diversity in a book.

I would also like more stand alones. While I love a good series, with so many series in the market nowadays, a good stand alone is refreshing and much more likely to stand out.

What book comes out soon that you can't wait to get your hands on?

There are a bunch of awesome books coming out, but I’ve already got a good number of them in the form of review copies. I’m really looking forward to The Forsaken, and I want Endlessly because I love it so much and want a finished edition to complete my Paranormalcy collection. I’m also looking forward to Rift by Andrea Cremer. I love her writing and world building and am excited to read the first book in the prequel series to Nightshade!

Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you became a YA book blogger?

My friends all know that I have two obsessions: ballroom dance and books. When I’m not studying, I am often either ballroom dancing or reading—or talking about one of them. Okay. I might also be taking picture of squirrels running around campus again, but that’s another story (in which I love stalking living creatures with my camera).

I began ballroom dancing late August of 2012 after my friend invited me to join the ballroom dance club with her. I fell in love with the sport and joined the ballroom dance team just so I could spend more time dancing. Seriously. I wasn’t even sure I’d be good enough to compete; I just wanted to dance. Well, I’ve been competing for almost a year now under the best coaches ever, and I’ve been holding my own on the dance floor. It helps that I have amazing partners to support me.

I founded Imaginary Reads five months before that, in April 2011, when I realized that I wasn't book talking as often as I liked and wanted to spread the book love to a wider audience. I spend so much of my time with books that they're a part of me. It's impossible for me to imagine a life without them. In fact, my dream is to work full-time in the children's book publishing business, specifically in the young adult section.

What is the first book you read & reviewed as a blogger?

 

Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon. I won a contest on her blog, granting me one of the first review copies ever made. Literally. I received a first edition ARC of the book back when it was still called The Carrier of the Mark, and HarperTeen hadn’t remade the cover with the lighter color scheme and the title change. I wasn’t yet a book blogger, but I felt the responsibility of reviewing the book since I’d received a title that few else had the privilege of reading yet. I posted the review on my personal blog and then copied it over to my book blog later when I started it. Actually, you could say that Carrier of the Mark is the reason I began book blogging because it was so much fun writing the review that I began reviewing more books on my blog, so much that I decided to created a whole new blog for the sole purpose of talking about books.

As a book blogger, you probably get lots of review requests. What is the best way for an author or publisher to receive a response from you when sending you a request?

It helps to be addressed personally, as it’s not that hard to find my name if you’ve even glanced over my blog, and it definitely helps to show that you’ve looked at my review policies. I like to see a request that includes the book synopsis and a link to the author’s site and Goodreads, so I can learn more about the book. I also like to see understanding and flexibility. While I’m honored that an author or publisher will take the time to contact me out of all the bloggers out there, I receive so many review copies that it’s impossible for me to accept every request that I receive. I appreciate it when the author/publisher understands my situation and is willing to work with my schedule.

I don’t like it when the request tries to sell the book to me. I don’t care to see glowing remarks from other readers copied and pasted into the email. That’s their opinion. A book that someone enjoyed may not be the book for me. I certainly don’t like to see the author’s book or anything attached if I haven’t requested it, unless I know the author and he/she knows I want to read it. And unless I know the author, I hate receiving a mass email from an author. I understand that authors have their own busy schedule, but with so many review requests coming in, it helps when an author shows consideration.

As an avid reader, are there any books that have stuck with you no matter how much time has passed since you finished reading it? If so, which one(s)? 

Anything by Sarah Dessen, Shannon Hale, L.M. Montgomery, or Tamora Pierce, to name a few. The books that I’ve read by them are books that I could reread forever. Add to that Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson, the Curse Workers series by Holly Black, and the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead. These  are just the ones off the top of my head.

If you were a YA character in a novel, which one would you be? Which one is most like you?

I’d be a side character. I don’t want to be the main characters, I want to meet them and be friends with them! There are a lot of characters I can relate with, but I don’t know which one would be most like me. Family and environment makes each of us unique! I could really relate to Mel in Team Human because of her desire to protect her friends at any cost and her desire to remain human. Gigi from Smart Girls Get What They Want is another character I can relate to. I was a quiet, studious girl back in the day, and it was in sophomore year of high school (like Gigi and her friends) that I decided to start branching out more. That was the year I founded the Environmental Awareness student group in my high school.

Is there anything else about you that you'd like us to know?

I would like to thank all the amazing authors out there. Without them, I wouldn’t be a book reviewer, and I’d lose half my childhood, as a large chunk of it was spent raiding library shelves. All my childhood librarians knew me. I was such a frequent visitor.

Thank you so much for joining me for the Spill, Kris. It was lovely getting to know you and your fabulous blog! 

Review & Author Interview: WILD INK by Victoria Hanley

Please help me welcome the wonderful Victoria Hanley to my blog today! Victoria is the author of several YA novels, including INDIGO MAGIC, just released earlier this year (Corgi Publishing/Random House). She is here today to talk about her nonfiction publication: WILD INK: SUCCESS SECRETS TO WRITING AND PUBLISHING IN THE YOUNG ADULT MARKET. 

I was given the chance to read this book, and to interview Victoria, and I'm thrilled that I did. As a YA writer myself, I found the information in this book to be informative and think it will be very useful to those writers who are just starting out and unsure of what the next and best steps are. 

Broken up into eleven chapters, WILD INK gives you all the information a writer needs to help them write and publish the best novel possible. It tackles topics from the different YA genres to self doubt and other obstacles that promise to get in the way of any good writing. Victoria also gives authors a great look into the differences between traditional publishing and the increasingly popular avenue of self publishing. I especially loved the chapters with agent and author interviews. There is an immeasurable wealth of helpful information in this book. I definitely suggest WILD INK to any writer who is interested in writing YA. 

***Interview***

How did this book come to fruition?

So many great Young Adult (YA) books are out there waiting to be written, and understanding the ins and outs of the YA genre can give writers a big advantage as they set forth on their own writing journeys. Personally, I’m in love with all things YA, and I was fortunate enough to find a great publisher for Wild Ink: Success Secrets to Writing and Publishing in the Young Adult Market.

What was the process of creating the book like?

Like planting an enormous garden under a sizzling sun while chasing butterflies during an earthquake. Put another way, this book was a process of gathering, organizing and sharing what I’ve learned about YA. I also found agents, editors, and other YA authors to give their knowledge and perspective. As often happens with writing, there was more depth, more difficulty, and more fulfillment than I expected at the outset.

What were your favorite parts of writing the book?

Well, I believe that finding your voice is the most important thing every writer must do, and Wild Ink allowed me a wonderful forum to work with my nonfiction writer’s voice. It was also fun reaching out to agents, editors, and other YA authors, many of whom agreed to answer interview questions. And I loved selecting short excerpts from various novels to illustrate the chapters on writing.

What were the hardest parts of writing the book?

As usual, just about everything took longer than I anticipated, from coordinating interviews to writing the chapters on novel structure to describing the subgenres of YA. But it’s all done now, and I’m so happy with the results. 

Thank you so much for joining me today, Victoria! It was a pleasure. 

You can find Victoria online:

Goodreads / Author Website / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Lucky

I've known for a long time that I'm a pretty lucky person. I have great friends, a wonderful husband and two beautiful, smart boys to call my own. But I've also been lucky in the way that I have amazing parents who have always supported me and encouraged me to believe in myself, even without always having to say it.

When I was in third grade I wrote a (very) short story about my great aunt. The story was entirely fiction, except for her name. It somehow won an award that offered me enough money to feed my family of four that night for (a cheap) dinner. It was exhilarating and I felt something inside me come alive. I was lucky. My memories of writing things (songs, poems, short stories) go back as far as I can remember. I received good grades in school and yet, still spent a good portion of my time in class writing poems. And every time I completed one, I felt compelled to write more.

That compulsion to write followed me into adulthood, and it wasn't until college and marriage and children that writing started to slow down. Working full time as paralegal, I still spent much of my day writing, but the words that were clicked out on my keyboard were usually legal jargon and letters to the all important people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I loved my job and my bosses and the last thing I wanted was to leave that job. My bosses were so amazing that after the birth of my first child, they allowed me to work from home three days a week and in the office only twice a week, so I could be with my son without giving up my job. I was lucky.

But when I was pregnant with my second son, my husband and I knew that I would need to be home full time. We couldn't afford full time daycare and being home ended up being cheaper than me working. I was very sad to leave the legal world. After all, I'd spent a great deal of time and money earning my degree and I loved going to work each morning. Leaving that position felt like I'd be losing a little bit of myself along with it.

What I didn't realize, though, was that not having that job to fulfill my need for an intellectual challenge would leave me hungry for some other outlet. The very outlet that I'd stopped using a few years before. And like any flame that you never entirely extinguish, that fire for writing came back full force, catching on the tiniest embers and sparking back to life. The joy of putting words on paper suddenly took over again, and now that I have it back, I know that I'll never be able to let it go.

As much as I didn't want to admit it at the time, leaving my job was the best thing I could do. Not only did I get to spend time with my small children, watching them grow and change and learn, but it also brought my love of writing back to me. It reminded me that I once had a dream, and even though I was scared, I didn't have to give up on that dream. Again, I was lucky.

And in the years that have passed since I've rekindled that flame, I've continued to be lucky. I've met and bonded with my critique partners in the most unpredictable ways. I know I've said it before, but I'm probably never going to stop saying it: I don't know what I'd do without them. They are invaluable. I'm lucky to have them.

This writing journey has been an incredible one, and yes, one I feel so lucky to have had. I am lucky not only because of the support I've had, but also because I have the strength to believe in my dreams. Maybe I'll never sell millions of books and get rich from it, but that doesn't matter. That's not my dream, because I'm already living mine. I'm writing and loving it, even when I'm exhausted by it. I'm writing, and I'm so, so grateful that I can.

I am lucky. 

My Query Stats

Every querying process is different. Some people send out fifty queries on the first round. Others only send one at a time. No matter the process, the results are almost always the same. The author is fretting, sweating and obsessively checking their email in the hopes of that one email that would change their future.

When I shared the good news that I now have an agent, I didn't even think about sharing my stats with you, but I've since been asked to share my story in more detail, so here is how it all went down.

The first query was sent on January 19, 2012. I waited four full days before sending a few more. My first partial request came on February 8th. That same agent then requested the full on March 8th. Everything was quiet (read: full of rejections) until April 9th when I received another full request. I received a very prompt rejection three days later from the second agent. On April 20th I had another full request.

Then, on April 30th I received three full requests. This is where the tide started to turn from rejectionville to OMGville. Later in the day on the 30th, one of the agents who'd just requested the manuscript that morning emailed me again to ask for a time to speak on the phone that next Wednesday, May 2nd.

I might have died a little. It was surreal and awesome and crazy good. That phone conversation went really, really well and I loved the agent. She offered representation during that call and I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a few seconds. I informed her that other agents were still reading the MS, so she gave me her blessing to take my time in considering my options, should I have other offers. I notified the other agents that afternoon and the next week was insanity.

Later that day on the 2nd I received a partial request from another agent. I let her know that I'd just received an offer of representation and wasn't sure I'd hear back from her, but sent her the partial. 

I received what I thought was my last offer from Marcy Posner on May 7th and had set up the phone call with her the next day. About thirty minutes before I was to receive that phone call, I received an extremely unexpected phone call from the agent that had come in at the last minute requesting the partial. She had loved what she'd read and wanted the rest of the manuscript and asked me to please not make my decision yet.

I was floored because I was pretty sure the phone call I'd been expecting from Marcy was going to be the last one and that I was going to accept her offer. So to say I was in shock is a major understatement. I spent the next ten minutes before the original call came in trying to calm myself down. And when Marcy did call, I really, really, really enjoyed the conversation. I connected with her and she connected with my story and it just felt right. But I had promised the other agent I'd give her time to finish the book.

I did eventually end up getting an offer from the second agent, but there was no shaking the connection I'd felt with Marcy. It just felt like the best fit. So I'd decided to go with Marcy's offer and I'm so very happy I did.

But I will say this: Every single one of the agents who'd offered were incredible and I would have been honored to work with any of them. I feel so blessed to have had this experience of the rejections and the waiting and eventual offers.

So.....the final stats of my querying process are:

54 queries sent
48 rejections (20 no responses/28 rejections/1 request to query again in the future)
3 partial requests (2 turned into fulls, 1 requested after offer of representation accepted)
7 full requests
5 offers of representation

The Happiest Kind of Post (Hint: Agent!)

In April of 2010, as I was washing dishes (i.e. bored out of my mind), a vivid scene hit me. Within 48 hours I'd written over 10K about the scene and who the characters in that scene were. Over the next few months I wrote and wrote and wrote that story. I had become obsessed with it. In October 2010, the first draft was complete and it was a MESS.

I took a few months away from the manuscript and in January 2011 began revisions. After several rounds of revisions, and many chats with my amazing critique partners, I decided to make serious changes that basically meant rewriting the story completely. It was terrifying and exciting and all kinds of fun to see how the new plot would unfold. An incredible thing happened: the story actually started to work. It was exhilarating!

So I spent a few more months revising, and finally decided the manuscript was ready for querying in January of 2012. I'd done my research and knew who I wanted to query first. And so it began. The rejections rolled in. I was prepared for that. It wasn't fun, but again, I have the worlds best critique partners ever. They listened to me and encouraged me and I kept at it.

And then the best things began to occur. I received an offer of representation. And another. And then a few more. My head was swimming (still is!) and suddenly I found myself in the position of making one of the best decisions of my life. It was a moment that I'd only dreamed of, but it happened.

It REALLY HAPPENED! So....I'm beyond thrilled to announce that:

I have accepted representation from the fabulous Marcy Posner of Folio Literary Management!

I HAVE AN AGENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

  (excuse me while I flail) 

I'm on top of the world! And I know without a doubt I wouldn't be able to celebrate this moment today without certain people in my life. You know who you are. I am blessed beyond words. Seriously, with all my heart, THANK YOU!!!

Why I Don't Tell People I Write: A Sample Conversation

Every time I tell someone I'm a writer--you know, in person, not online--I get looks from the very impressed to the very disinterested. I generally don't tell many people I'm a writer because sometimes it's still hard for me to believe myself. There's this level of self confidence that I just don't have yet when it comes to announcing to people that I spend all of my free time writing books that may or may not see the light of day.

Just as I never know how the publishing industry worked before I began writing, most non-writer people don't know either. So I thought it would be fun to show you a sample conversation I have when I actually do tell someone I write.


Let's call the person I'm speaking to "Jane" and I'll just be me.


***


Jane: "Wow! You wrote a book? What's it about?"

Me:  *blushes furiously and stares at foot, cursing self for even mentioning it* This is where I fumble for at least fifteen minutes to describe my novel, trying very hard to make it sound interesting, but all the while sure I'm failing miserably.

Jane: *lots of nodding and smiling--or is that grimacing?* "Where can I get a copy?"


Me: "Umm...You can't get it anywhere at this moment. It's not published yet."


Jane: "Oh. When will it be coming out?"



Me: *more internal cursing* "First an agent has to agree to represent it. And after that happens, I'll probably have to work on revisions and then hopefully a publisher will want to buy it. And, well, if that happens, it will probably still be over a year before the book is available."


Jane: "Oh, huh." *levels of interest are seriously waning here* "That sounds like a lot of work, but it will all be worth it when you're rich and famous and have movie deals from it."


Me: *nervous laughter* "The whole rich and famous and movie thing almost never happens, but that would be nice."


Jane: *insert looks of confusion here* "I thought authors got paid a lot of money for their books?"


Me: *internal cursing turns into internal kicking of the arse* "Some authors do, but most don't. It's highly unlikely I'll make very much at first."


Jane: "Wow." *spots someone else in the crowd and grabs his attention* "Hey, Mark! Did you know that Cindy wrote a book?" *makes excuse to leave conversation as soon as Mark begins talking*

***
Of course, not every conversation goes this way. Some people get really, really interested and want to talk about it for hours. Either way, there are always looks of confusion and my guaranteed fifteen minutes of stumbling over my words trying to describe my book, but wishing I could just pull up the synopsis and read it out loud instead.

What about you? Do you tell people you write or do you mostly keep it to yourself as well? How do you handle it when you do tell people?

WANTED Blog Tour: An Interview with Agent Stephen Barbara

I'm thrilled to be part of the blog tour for Heidi Ayarbe's latest novel WANTED. Her super awesome agent, Stephen Barbara, is here with us today for a special agent interview. Hope you enjoy it! 

 

CT: Heidi's books are hard hitting and honest, always pulling me, as a reader, into the world she's created instantly. I'd love to know at what point she had you hooked. Was it in her query or in the early pages of a submission? Can you remember exactly when the moment was that you knew you wanted to represent her?

SB: Heidi sent me a query letter, I think back in 2006, for a novel about a teenage boy who accidentally kills his best friend with a handgun he finds in his father’s tool shed. That novel became FREEZE FRAME, her debut, published in 2008 by HarperCollins. I don’t remember the query letter but the first chapter was unforgettable. It’s a very poignant example of dramatic irony, this teenage kid acting like a jerk to his sister and his friend while they’re having breakfast on an ordinary autumn morning. But you, the reader, know what he doesn’t know, that he’s only minutes away from killing his best friend. It’s a devastating piece of writing.

So I signed Heidi after I finished reading that manuscript. I was surprised by how nice she was over the phone. I guess I expected something different—her writing was so dark and unflinching!

CT: Do you have a favorite line or moment from WANTED? If so, please share it with us.

SB: The six-word memoir which ends the novel. But you’ll have to read the book to get to that line.

CT: What are some of your favorite YA reads that are not books written by your clients? What types of books would you like to see more of in the YA market?

SB: I like everything M.T. Anderson has done in the YA space. FEED and the OCTAVIAN NOTHING books, especially. From last year, I liked Laini Taylor’s novel a lot. E. Lockhart comes to mind for her distinctive voice and style. And Rebecca Stead’s WHEN YOU REACH ME was a favorite—we all read it around the office. It’s depressing to think of all these great books and writers I don’t represent, though. (laughs)

I don’t have any big headline on where the YA market should go. I’d just like to keep seeing authors and publishers trying new things, being creative, putting their faith in good writers, and good story-telling. There’s maybe a little too much copy-catting in the market right now, a little too much desperation to replicate someone else’s success. It’s good to see publishers taking chances, despite how tough the market is. I liked CHOPSTICKS, for instance, the Jessica Anthony and Rodrigo Corral book which Razorbill published last year. I think people in the industry are always finding themselves surprised by what the market will bear. We just don’t know what the next hit will be. It often comes from completely out of left field.

CT: Have you ever disagreed with a client on what their next project should be? In your experience, what has been the best way to handle this?

SB: Yes, of course. There’s no good way to handle that, Just straight on, I think: “Look, this isn’t working, it needs revisions, etc.” If your client trusts you, and you have a good working relationship, you figure out the best strategy, whether to revise the work, stuff it in a drawer, or revisit it at a later time. As an agent, you’re always thinking of presenting your client at their best, maximizing their value, giving them the best shot to succeed in the market. And sometimes you don’t 100% agree with your client on whether to move ahead with a project, but it’s better if you’ve been clear on your point of view, I think.

CT: What's the most exciting part of being an agent? The signing of a new client? Getting a new book deal for a client? Meeting your clients for the first time?

SB: Closing a deal, without question! I’ve heard salespeople say, “Every time I get a no, I’m one step closer to a yes,” and while I’m sure that’s a very nice and well-meaning sentiment, I never really understood this business of liking rejection. Personally, I hate it. Writing a novel is a long, grueling slog for a writer, and the business of agent-ing can be slow, hard, confounding work in its own right. So I think the truly satisfying, essential, rewarding moment as an agent, is closing the deal. I like calling a client and telling them we have a great offer, helping them realize what may be a lifelong dream. And while I also love getting into the minutiae later on and guiding a book to the moment it sees the light of day, none of that is possible if you don’t close the deal first. That’s the most exciting part for me. 

Huge thanks to Heidi and Stephen for today's tour stop!  

You can find Heidi and her books online:

Website / Blog / Twitter / Goodreads 

Find Stephen Barbara @ Foundry Literary + Media  

WANTED by Heidi Ayarbe

Release  Date: May 1, 2012 (Out now!!)

Publisher: Balzar + Bray 

About (from Goodreads): A one-word text message: That's all Michal "Mike" Garcia needs to gather a crowd. Mike is a seventeen-year-old bookie, and Sanctuary is where she takes bets for anyone at Carson High with enough cash. Her only rule: Never participate, never place a bet for herself.

Then Josh Ellison moves to town. He pushes Mike to live her life, to feel a rush of something -- play the game, he urgest, stop being a spectator.

So Mike breaks her one rule. She places a bet, feels the rush.
And loses.

In an act of desperation, she and Josh -- who has a sordid past of his own -- concoct a plan: The pair will steal from Carson City's elite to pay back Mike's debt. Then they'll give the rest of their haul to those who need it most. How can burglary be wrong if they are making things right?

WANTED will thrust readers into the gritty underbelly of Carson City, where worth is determined by a score, power is derived from threat, and the greatest feat is surviving it all.