How to Do a Book Tour for $200 or Less

What a lot of people didn't realize about the Ash to Nash tour is that it's something we developed, organized, and paid for ourselves.

This is not a tour we would have thought about if Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, and Jennifer Lynn Barnes hadn't led the way with the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour. Their idea--to make a tour their way, in their control--was truly inspiring and the first I'd ever heard of authors banding together in this way to bring their works (and their selves) to their readers. Since then, there have been more similar author tours (notably here and here).

So! Ash to Nash was a totally self-made, self-run tour between myself, Myra McEntire (HOURGLASS), and Victoria Schwab (THE NEAR WITCH). We went to 8 cities, sold tons of books, had even more fun, met so many great people, and did it all for about $200 each.

So--I want to break down a little how we did it. For entirely selfish reasons. Because honestly? I'd love it if more authors did this. More book events that I get to attend! Yay!

Inception:
We got the idea for Ash to Nash after meeting each other at a writer's retreat. We got along well, all had debuts, and all lived in close to the same area. Honestly? That was enough. You don't have to have a huge theme or anything--we just realized that we were close enough to have a reason to tour.

Myra's book takes place in present day; mine's in the future; Victoria's is in the past. Myra's book has time travel and sass; mine has space travel and murder; Victoria's has lyricism and magic. They are very different books.

But they're also similar. All three are YA. All three have smart YA female leads. All three involve an element of unreal.

And more importantly? We all three got along really well. So we knew we could talk and entertain readers in the audience, and we had enough in common to link it all together.

So, step one? Decide who to tour with.


Organization--Before:
We did the most work before the actual tour. Here's a breakdown of what happened:

• Communicate with your publisher. They are wise, experienced, have advice for you, and can help you come up with everything. Do this first.
• Agree on finances. We decided to split everything equally three ways, with one person putting everything on her card and then dividing up the bill. We had a vague idea of a budget. But this should be the first thing you talk about.
• Come up with places to tour. We decided to make our locations (Asheville to Nashville) a key thing, and built the tour as a way to give back to our communities--so we focused on Indie bookstores between our areas. 
• Decide on dates. Once you know where you want to go, consider when. We generally did one event a day, but twice we did two in one day. You might think that a tour stop is simple, just a couple hours of time--but they are truly exhausting and take a lot out of you. So, in general, think about limiting how many times you double book, and don't forget to factor in travel time!
• Come up with an event agenda. We needed to come up with our own tour format, and we also needed to make sure that the bookstores--several of which had never had an event like ours before--knew what to do. We developed a program: one hour of Q&A, one hour + of book signing. We came up with sample questions, and asked the bookstores to have moderators that would lead the discussion. We sent the document to each bookstore, basically an event packet that listed what we're doing.
• Contact guests. One of the things we wanted to do was feature local authors at each stop. Once we had dates, times, and bookstores confirmed, we went about contacting authors in each local area to have special guest. This involved not only setting up the authors, but also making sure they knew the schedule, including them in marketing, etc.

Marketing--Before and During:
Marketing basically never ends from the moment you come up with the tour, to the actual tour itself. We knew our biggest problem was to get people to actually come to these events, especially in the areas that so rarely have events.

• Website: The first thing we did was set up http://ash2nash.blogspot.com. In organizing the website, we made sure that the top links were direct links to a post about each event, and that in the post there was clear, succinct, specific information about each event. 
• Spread the News: In order to help spread the news, we offered a giveaway for people who shared info on the tour. We made sure the prize was big--8 signed copies of the books featured on the tour--to entice people to spread the word. We also made it easy: pre-made Facebook links, Twitter posts, and an easily downloadable widget for people to share.
• Bookstore advertising: To make it easy for the bookstores to advertise the events, we also sent them pre-made posters and bookmarks to hand out to customers. 
• Press releases: We wrote a press release and provided it to the local newspapers and magazines. This was a big surprise--we thought that we were being ignored by a lot of the loca media--but we found out after that every single place we went to featured our tour stop using those press releases!
• On-site giveaway: To encourage people to (a) come and (b) buy books, we offered a giveaway just for people at the event, and gave them extra entries for every book they bought.
• Social Media: And finally, during the tour we also used our already established social media contacts to remind people of the events and encourage them to come.

Touring--During:
And finally: the tour! Here's what we learned while actually on tour.

• Travel cheaply. We carpooled and didn't stay in a hotel once--we arranged the tour in part so that we were always near one of our houses (or near the house of one of our parents, LOL).
• Eat and sleep when you can. This is the best advice for anyone on tour ever.
• Keep it light and entertaining. People attended the tour predominantly to (a) learn and (b) be entertained. So everything we said was geared either to succinct information or to make you laugh.

Last Thoughts:

• Money:
• In the end, we spent about $200 each. Here's a general break down of moneys:
• Prizes (we offered a $100 gift certificate and some other goodies as part of the on-site prize)
• Gas and travel expenses
• Printing costs: we made posters and bookmarks for the bookstores to distribute, as well as some bookmarks for us to give out on the actual event
• Keep in mind: we split the expenses three ways. The final bill for the whole tour was about $600. But because we worked together, we divided the cost. What we couldn't afford on our own, we could swing by working together.
• Work Together:
• It's important for you to consider yourself, your fellow authors, and the bookstore owners as partners. Don't be a diva. Don't consider yourself better. Be willing to do work, and be willing to work with others. You'll get a lot more done that way. 
• Don't do all the work yourself: if you're working with others, share the load. One person can design posters, another write the press release, and someone else can help with mailings. 
• Have Fun:
• This is not the time to try to one-up the people around you. Don't try to build yourself up by standing on the shoulders of those around. One of the things we heard over and over was that people had fun because we were having fun. We heard horror stories from some of the bookstore owners about events where the person was just in it to sell books or prove something. It's a lot more fun to just...you know, have fun.
• Honestly? This tour was exhausting and a lot of work. Most people only saw the end result. They didn't realize that, for the tour in August, we'd been planning since February. They didn't realize that we made the posters, websites, bookmarks, and everything else ourselves--and we paid for them ourselves. But even though it was a lot of work--it was so worth it. We got to meet so many great bookstores and readers! Nothing--nothing--can replace that experiences!

And Finally...If You Like Author Tours:
Go to them! Let the authors you like know you want to see them in person. And when there is a tour near you, go visit it! Here's a few upcoming tours that you don't want to miss:

• Smart Chicks Kick It: This is one of the biggest--and first--author-made tours. It's kicking off in a few months and will be national. Be sure to check out these stops (and if you're in Portland or Vancouver, I'll see you there!)
• Stages on Pages: This tour is going to feature YA authors whose books deal with singers, actors, and more--all those stages on pages! It's a fun debut tour, so be sure to check out whether or not it'll be in your area--they'll be on the East and West coast.

A Few Updates

• WriteOnCon has started! Hurrah! And if you'd like to see a vlog by me--about Failure (maybe) with pictures of all my previous manuscripts, check it out on Tuesday at 4:00
• Don't forget that the Secret of the Stars girls are hosting a mystery prize giveaway, linked to my Creative Contest. They're also hosting an ARC tour of A MILLION SUNS, which is closed now--but if you missed out, these are the girls to be watching for future such events, so make sure you're following them :)
• Now that the Ash2Nash tour is over, I've got a little time to recoup--and work on Book 3--before Dragon*Con and the Decatur Book Fest in Georgia. If you're anywhere near Atlanta, get thee to these events! They're awesome.
• Posting will be...spotty in the near future. I've got to focus on things such as, yanno, writing Book 3.

Tasty Reading!

There's been a lot going on between tours and ARC arrivals and everything else, but you've not forgotten the creative contest, have you? You have until August 31st to come up with anything that deals in anyway with ACROSS THE UNIVERSE or A MILLION SUNS and you could win an epic prize, including the first signed ARCs of AMS and a custom charm bracelet (and more!)

Today's entry comes via Cait, and, lemme tell you, it looks quite tasty! I think I should only count it as an entry if she sends me a sample, don't you? ;)

Meanwhile, the Ash 2 Nash tour is officially over--and it was SUCH a whirlwind of awesome that I can't even begin to describe it. Nearly every event was standing-room-only, and the bookstores were lovely and kind hosts to our bit of crazy. Here's a few pictures (all stolen):

The Nashville Event at Barnes & Noble.
Picture stolen shamelessly from here.

The BAM event in Kingsport, picture stolen shamelessly from here.

Did you know that the roots of this tour came about after the infamous Branson retreat this February? And that Victoria, Myra, and I made this tour entirely by ourselves, with no monetary support from our pubs--for about $200 each? I'm working on a post about this right now actually, but my point-in-brief is this: if you love books and love readers, you can easily give back to the community that made your dreams come true.

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to drool over this some more:

More details on how YOU can enter for the Creative Contest prize here!

How to Get Signed Books!

We're right smack in the middle of our tour, and we wanted to make sure everyone knew how to order signed books if they want them!

All of the bookstores we've been at ship nationally (and most ship internationally), and you can either order online or through phone at all stores. Or, even better, drop in and purchase a copy!

To Buy a Signed Book, call either of these stores:

• Malaprops Bookstore, Asheville, NC
• Fireside Books & Gifts, Forest City, NC

You can also still get personalized books through these stores (be sure to mention you want personalization):

• City Lights Bookstore, Sylva, NC
• Books-a-Million, Kingsport, (423) 245-4931
• Union Ave Books, Knoxville, TN
• Barnes & Noble, Brentwood (615) 371-8993

ARCs of A MILLION SUNS

Advanced Reader Copies (ARCs) of A MILLION SUNS have been printed and are, even now, winging their ways to reviewers! Which is, frankly, terrifying.

But! If you are a book reviewer and would like to request an ARC of A MILLION SUNS, do not email me. Instead, if you have direct connection with the publicist, email her or if you do not have a direct connection with the publicist, please fill out this form, which will go to my publicist.

That there above is a teaser trailer based on the cover of A MILLION SUNS by the simsational April. I just wanted to show you that you don't necessarily have to have read either AtU or AMS to enter the Creative Contest--it's totally cool to do something based on the covers. Also, there's a great entry up on the Facebook Page--you should go check it out!

Meanwhile...


I'm on tour! The Ash 2 Nash Tour kicked off yesterday at the wonderful Fireside Books & Gifts, and it was so much fun bringing my friends to my local indie. Today, we're going to the Morganton, NC, public library, and following that up with Malaprops.

Confession time: Malaprops is one of the biggest indie bookstores in the South. I've always sort of felt that if you get to do an event there, you've made it. So it's extra thrilling to know that I'll be there tonight! *squee*

But....we are having so much fun (last night was Author Sleepover at my house, and we gorged on pasta and then made Lurlene McDaniels and Nicholas Sparks jokes all night) that I can totally foresee me forgetting to, er, blog. Especially since we're going to try to do posts on the Ash 2 Nash blog, too.

So....here's a mini link-spam to tide you over and give you something to read :)

• I found Allison Winn Scotch's post on author platforms--and why even fiction writers need them--interesting. I mostly agree with her; although I don't really call an online presence a "platform" so much. Just semantics, though. 
• Jim Hines had an interesting post on Agents as Publishers. 
• I love this post by Kiersten White so much I can't even stand it. I was going to do a whole post of my own in response, but I'm afraid it would just be a great big giant "THIS" instead of anything actually, you know, intelligent.
• Victoria's book released!
• Heather's doing book spine poetry, which I've always loved. PS: If you can get AtU into a book-spine poem, that would totally count as a Creative Contest entry! PPS: Do you guys love book-spine poetry as much as me? I've been thinking of making that another contest for a later month....

Creative Coffee

Just one possibility for an entry in the Creative Contest I announced yesterday! :)

(PS: This isn't an entry--I commissioned it from Fiverr.com for fun)

Widget Code

I've had a few people say the "Get Widget" function isn't working properly to snag the A MILLION SUNS widget I have on my sidebar. If you're having problems with it, you can just copy and paste the html text below straight into your  website/blog:





<center><script type="text/javascript" src="http://cdn.widgetserver.com/syndication/subscriber/InsertWidget.js"></script><script type="text/javascript">if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('9f493d3e-d181-4108-b0b8-0443e06c5779');</script><noscript>Get the <a href="http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/a-million-suns">A Million Suns</a> widget and many other <a href="http://www.widgetbox.com/">great free widgets</a> at <a href="http://www.widgetbox.com">Widgetbox</a>! Not seeing a widget? (<a href="http://docs.widgetbox.com/using-widgets/installing-widgets/why-cant-i-see-my-widget/">More info</a>)</noscript></center>

Remember: if you're posting it into a Blogger post, use the "Edit HTML" tab.

Let me know if you have any other troubles!

Swag Pack Winner

I hope you all had a good time with the YA Scavenger Hunt! I know there were a few hiccups, but I really hope it was fun for all in the end!

The winner of the swag pack from me was... ROA! Congrats, Roa!

The grand prize winner of ALL 23 SIGNED books will be announced by Colleen Houck. And in the meantime...all those bonus materials are going back into hiding!

August Giveaway!

FIRST: Are you looking for the YA Scavenger Hunt? If so, it's the post right below this one. That's right guys--I'm doing TWO giveaways today!

It's August! And, well, that deserves a celebration, no? No? Well how about this: it's only a half a year more before A MILLION SUNS comes out! Squee!! And guys, I cannot wait for you to read this book. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE was amazing for me because it was my first published book, but A MILLION SUNS is something special because it was the first book I wrote knowing that people wanted it.

And, well, you guys know me. I celebrate with giveaways :)

I've been preparing for this giveaway for awhile. Months. And I'm so excited to finally share it with you all.

First, the prizes:

GRAND PRIZE:

A signed ARC of A MILLION SUNS!

 A custom made charm bracelet that fits with AtU!

DETAILS ABOUT THE PRIZES:

The grand prize will consist of the VERY FIRST ARC of A MILLION SUNS! I...er...actually don't have any yet. But when I do get ARCs, the prize-winner will get the Very. First. One. 

The prize-winner will also get this very cool and very special and very rare charm bracelet. I've talked about how these bracelets came to be in more detail before, but basically, this is a custom-made, commissioned work of art that incorporates nearly 20 charms, each one specific to ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, plus some beautiful beads. The details of this are simple AMAZING. You can read more about each charm here. The bracelet retails for $70--and is so worth it. It's so pretty!

FIVE RUNNER UP PRIZES:

A total SECRET! A mystery gift!

DETAILS ABOUT THE PRIZES:

There will be FIVE runner-up prizes for this contest. What are the prizes?

That's a secret. But if you participate in the 24-hour scavenger hunt, 
you'll find out what the mystery prize is.

Here's a clue: the mystery prize will involve a key image relevant to A MILLION SUNS.

SO HOW DO YOU ENTER?

By Simon Semus

Well, this is a very creative prize. A book that took all my creative powers to make. A bracelet that drips with creativity. And so, to enter, you need to do something creative.

And I don't want to limit creativity. So here's the thing: you can do anything as long as you stretch your creative muscle a bit. But if you need some ideas, you could re-design the cover like the ones here. Or you could draw a picture or do some graphic design like the fan art here. (And PS: all those old pictures? They still totally count as entries in this.)

But I know that not everyone's good at visual arts, or maybe they want to do something beyond the norm to stand out. And I totally encourage that. 

Maybe what you really want to do is play outside with some chalk...

(This is a fan video Heather Zundel did for Gayle Forman's IF I STAY, a brilliant book)

Or maybe you'd like to blend artistic ideas? I have to admit, I've always been intrigued by the idea of making a custom My Little Pony. Can you imagine a bright-red-haired pony? 

Or perhaps you're a fashionista who likes to design t-shirts? What would you put on the front of an AtU t-shirt? Team Elder? The Godspeed logo?

Shirt found here.

Or maybe you like to quilt or sew?

This is a quilt a fan named Kim Walus made for Kiersten White. Isn't it amazing?

Maybe you're the next Rachel Berry and like to sing? (This version, btw, is made by the fab Kayla Olson)

WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO! It's all 100% up to you! All you have to do is come up with some sort of neat, unique, creative, fun thing that ties back to ACROSS THE UNIVERSE in some way. A clay model of Godspeed? A facepaint of the ship logo (found embossed on the hardcover)? A haiku about stars? Get some friends together and re-enact a scene from the book? A little design that can be used for pin-buttons? Use stage make-up and give yourself a wi-com? It's all up to you.

And since I'm asking YOU guys to be all kinds of creative, I decided to be a little creative myself, learn a little html (seriously! the entire widget is linked to different websites!), and make a button for YOU:

Now, I know it's going to be really hard to pick a winner. And judging from the last creative contest I held, it might just be impossible. I mean, come on. You guys are good. So, I'm going to give the grand prize away based on a drawing. 

BUT. I reserve the right to give an additional special prize of my choosing to someone (or more than one person!) if I see a creative work that is just by-and-far brilliant and above and beyond and leaves me gobsmacked. Which is really just a fancy way of saying that if you really impress me, I will give out MORE prizes.

ALSO. I am giving you a whole month to do this. So make it good! :D

TO ENTER FOR THE GRAND PRIZE OF THE VERY FIRST SIGNED ARC OF A MILLION SUNS AND THE CUSTOM MADE CHARM BRACELET:

• Create something that is creative and linked to ACROSS THE UNIVERSE in some way.
• Upload the image (or video, or text, or whatever) of the creative work online
• This can be on your own blog or website
• You can tweet the pic on Twitter, or add to Tumblr, or whatev
• If you don't have a blog/website, you are more than welcome to add the picture on the Facebook page (and actually, if you do that, it would probably make my publisher very happy, and last time we made the publisher happy, they sent me an extra box of ARCs to give away to you guys)
• And, failing all that, you are also more than welcome to email me the entry at bethrevis @ gmail.com
• If you have the above widget on your website when I go to check it out, you get an extra entry into the drawing
• You must submit your entry by midnight on August 31, 2011
• This contest is open internationally
• Leave the information of where to find your entry (the link and your contact information) in the following form. NOT the comments of this post. USE THE FORM BELOW:

TO ENTER FOR THE SUPER SECRET FIVE RUNNER-UP PRIZES:

• Go here. The lovely ladies at The Secret of the Stars are handling the five mystery prize giveaways. :)
• And to get a sneak-peek, open for only 24-hours, of what that secret prize will be, then go on the Scavenger Hunt detailed in the post below this one. And if you do that, you'll also get a chance to win a crap-ton of signed books and more prizes!

(Oh. And PS? If, um, you'd like to mail me your entry so I can decorate my bookshelves with it, I am *so* cool with that idea. My mailing address is PO Box 27, Union Mills, NC 28167. I will send you a pretty thank you card if you do this!)

Scavenger Hunt--One Day Only!

Welcome to the YA Scavenger Hunt!

This is over now! Hope you had a good time :)

A Million Suns Description Blurb!

Over on GoodReads, the description for A MILLION SUNS is up!

Just in case you're curious, here's what the book is about....

When Elder learns harrowing news about the space ship Godspeed, he and Amy must work together to unlock a puzzle that was set in motion hundreds of years earlier, all the while dealing with the romance that’s growing between them and the chaos that threatens to tear them apart. It all boils down to one mind-bending conclusion: They have to get off this ship.

Congrats to Christy!

Go congratulate my crit partner, Christy--she just signed with an agent!

A Sneak Peek at the Prizes!

It's almost here! The very first A MILLION SUNS contest! It launches on August 1st. And since it's going to be a BIG contest--I mean, heck, I'm giving away the first A MILLION SUNS ARC in it!--I thought I'd give you guys a bit of a bigger sneak peak at the prizes.

Prizes. More than one prize. Multiple in the prize department.

Well, first there's going to be a grand prize, which will consist of two things. The first is an ARC of A MILLION SUNS (which will be delivered to the winner as soon as, er, they're delivered to me). The second part of the grand prize is this:

I've blogged before about how I contacted this awesome Etsy artist, Jennie, and we started working on a bracelet that's just for ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. We worked together over every. Single. Charm. And dude. There's nearly 20 charms on this sucker! And each and every one has a special meaning.

•  2 planets--one Earth, one Centauri-Earth
• A koi and paint palette for Harley
• A running shoe and sun for Amy
• A flower (from that scene) for Elder
• An infinity symbol for the last line of the book
• A block of ice for Amy's parents
• ...and more

For a full list of the charms, plus details of how the bracelet was made, check out Jennie's blog!

There's just so much detail in this! 

Do you see the clasp? IT IS SHAPED LIKE A STAR. GUYS. GUYS. IT IS SHAPED LIKE A STAR. Jennie put so much love into these bracelets. Under the ice charm? A teeny-tiny almost unnoticeable star. It's just...*sigh*...perfect.

And each link that doesn't have a charm? Has a beautiful set of beads. The pictures just do NOT do this justice. The beads are all in colors that match both the covers of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE and A MILLION SUNS. They shimmer. They sparkle. They are shiny.

Now, as I mentioned, Jennie made these bracelets just for ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. She actually made a whole shop in her Etsy store just for AtU--and while the bracelets sold out (on the first day they were on sale!) she does have earrings for AtU and is working on more jewelry as we speak! So be sure to check out her store! (For the record, I'm partial to the Little Fish earrings, but then again, I've got a soft spot for Harley.)

Now, I did mention that there were prizeS. But...the other prizes are....secret. 

Yeah.

I know.

But on August 1st, in addition to opening up the very first contest that will feature the very first ARC of A MILLION SUNS, I'm also going to post a link to a scavenger hunt! And--for 24 hours only--if you follow the link, you'll discover what the secret prizes are.

So! Good times ahead!

The Most Effective Book Trailer Ever.

So there's this book:

MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN. I'd seen it around. And even though it looked creeptastic, it didn't really grab me for whatever reason.

Then I read this review, which led me to this book trailer:



Then, after I saw it, I saw this "making of" book trailer:


In the past, there have been book trailers that convinced me to buy a book I was on the fence about--this is the first time that I found immediately went out to buy a book that I'd consciously decided not to buy previously.

And I did. I downloaded it onto my Kindle that second--but I can already tell that I want this one in print. Because scattered throughout the text? Creepy old vintage pictures that go along with the story. And the author? He found the photographs, before he wrote the book!

The Learning Curve

I was talking recently with an author friend of mine, and we were discussing how we figured, by this point in our careers, we'd be, you know...better. She'd thought a draft of hers, while not done, was closer to being done. I'd thought that A MILLION SUNS would be easier to write than ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. Not--as it turned out to be--harder.


All this got me to thinking. While I've only got one book on the shelves now, I've been at this gig for a bit now--ten years, and ten unpublished manuscripts before ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. I'm not going to go into all that now because, frankly, you guys are probably getting sick of hearing about it.

But I'm going to tell you what I told my author friend the other night.

It's actually a good thing that it never gets easier.

See, here's the thing. If it got easier, that means we're not challenging ourselves any more. We've dug ourselves a nice little groove, and we're not trying to improve.

In my time while struggling to be a writer, I've noticed that people respond differently to critiques.

See, we wish we were the blue line--always, steadily getting better. That's the way it would be in a perfect world: we'd just continue to improve as we work.

But of course, it's not like that. It's just...not.

The red and green lines represent real authors, not this crazy ideal author that doesn't exist. At Point 1, you can see that most authors DO improve over time. I think that's certainly true--with practice, we get better. You can see that both Red and Green are advancing at the same rate over time.

But at Point 2, I introduce criticism. Now, authors get criticism in different ways, but what I mean by "criticism" is constructive advice. This could be--and will be for most authors--critique partners or beta readers. But it could also be an agent or editor. Either way, my point is--at Point 2, authors get advice.

You'll notice that the green line takes a sharp turn up. I personally think at the point when an author starts steadily working with other to improve his craft, he also takes a sudden bump up. These are big things that it's easy and quick for an author to learn once he starts working with others--basic things like formatting, pacing, structure. I sincerely do believe that when an author starts getting some sort of outside help--from critiques, agents, editors, whatever--he will see a sudden and marked improvement.

But then you'll notice that the road gets bumpy. There are a ton of little ups and downs--sharp peaks, sudden plunges--that the improving writer will feel. That's because the writer is improving. The writer, by this point, has developed a sense of what works and what doesn't, and is trying to make something grand and wonderful--and is still struggling.


Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.


This is the point my writer friend is at. She's constantly improving, but it's not one smooth ride up like the blue line.

And the thing I wanted to tell her was that that is a really good thing.

Because, essentially, that means you're starting to recognize that what you're doing now isn't good enough. 


And that, my friends, is a very good thing.

I think it's for the best that an artist never really gets to the point that she thinks something is good enough. If the artist--no matter what the art is--sits back and accepts her work as "good enough," that means she's satisfied. And, well...I don't want to be satisfied. I want to constantly struggle to be even better than I was before.

Because the author writer? The one with the red line? She gets to point 4 on my chart. She's placated. She's fine with the way things are. She gets a piece of advice--say, to make a character's motivations clearer. And she adds a scene and calls it done. Calls it good enough.

And there's no improvement there.

Maybe the Red Writer has a happier life than the Green Writer. Maybe Red is blissful in her ignorance, coasting through her art, creating a story and letting it ride.

I think many writers are like that writer--especially at the beginning, but sometimes I still feel that way. I'll admit that while I was working on A MILLION SUNS, I got to a point where I looked at the story and thought "done," well before it was, actually, done.

And I know I was like that at the beginning of my writing life--one reason why I went so long before achieving publication. I still remember the first time I "edited" my first book. You guys, I crossed out, like, a page, and then I fixed some grammar, and I think I added a paragraph. That was it. That wasn't editing. That wasn't ripping through the words to find the beating heart of the story.

That was good enough.

I never want to be good enough.

I want to be the best I can be.

And that--that--requires ups and downs. That requires recognizing when something isn't good enough. Now, if you haven't already, go watch that video I posted above. And also, read this. I think you'll see some parallels between writing and fighting there.

Bookanista Feature: Maureen Johnson's THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE

So the first thing you should know is that I'm a raging fan girl of Maureen Johnson.

First, there was DEVILISH. It was clever and witty and it really just made me sit up and say, "wow. This is an author worth watching."

And then there was THIRTEEN LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPES, and it was exactly the sort of book I wish I'd read when I was younger. It involved a girl who went off on an adventure through Europe, and she was a little scared, but she did it anyway, and she fell a little in love, but she kept going anyway, and by the end I found myself wishing with all my heart that I could send this book back in time and give it to myself when I was in high school.

And then I got to know Maureen a little better through Twitter. And she organized one-day Twitter explosions to donate money to ShelterBox and did a debate with the YA-hater Meghan Cox Gourdan, and I really wanted to nominate Maureen Johnson for the President of YA.

And then I read THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE.

I have to say, I had mixed feelings about it. I loved 13LBE so much that I was honestly a little worried about what a sequel would hold. Would Ginny's tentative relationship that was really just a fledging survive across the Atlantic? What would that last little blue envelope actually hold?

I knew Maureen Johnson was a genius. But I didn't know she was THIS much of a genius.

Here's the single best praise I can give to THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE:

It was a sequel that was better than the first book.

Do you know how rare that is (or at least, how rare that is in my own reading)? Off the top of my head, I can think of only one other book (DEMONGLASS by Rachel Hawkins) where I thought Book 2 was better than Book 1. It's not that I think all Book 2s suck, it's just that they're often not as good (imo) as their predecessor.

But THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE? Better than 13LBE. I loved the person Ginny had become as a result of her aunt's journey for her. I loved the realism to the relationships (I'm not going to ruin anything by giving too much away). I loved how I honestly didn't know how the book would end.

And--I love--loveloveLOVE--the last sentence of the last page of the last letter Ginny's aunt left for her.

Oh, and my fangirl love for Maureen Johnson? Just hit epic proportions. I recently finished THE NAME OF THE STAR, and it's official: MJ is on my must-buy list. If I see a book she's written, I will buy it, no matter what. 

To see what the other Bookanistas are reading, click here:

• Elana Johnson raves about Blood Red Road
• LiLa Roecker  shivers over A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie
• Christine Fonseca  is wowed by The Near Witch
• Beth Revis loves The Last Little Blue Envelope
• Carolina Valdez Miller gushes over The Girl of Fire and Thorns – with arc giveaway
• Bethany Wiggins cheers for Chime
• Rosemary Clement Moore is enraptured by Entwine
• Stasia Ward Kehoe applauds The Predicteds

Scavenger Hunt and Contests and More, Oh My!

Ack! I'm a little late in announcing the winners of the astronaut ice cream from the cover reveal! Sorry! But these five lucky winners are going to have some sweet astronaut ice cream delivered right to their doors :)

Mollie S.

Ashlee F.

Chloe P.

Maria G.

Danah

Congrats! Hope you enjoy! And if you're disappointed about not winning, don't worry. I've got more! :)

Also, if you follow my Twitter or Facebook, you may have seen me tweet about the completion of the super amazing ACROSS THE UNIVERSE bracelets! You can read about how the bracelets came to be here, but I have to say, they turned out really well! <---click for more pictures, including close-ups and a full list of charms

The artist, Jennie, made five bracelets. I bought up three of them--one for me, one for a gift, and one to give away to YOU. She put the other two up for sale...and sold out of them before the first day. I believe Jennie will be making more, but in the meantime, I'll be having a contest--a huge contest--on August 1st.

For this contest, I'm going to ask you to do something creative--so get those ideas going! And since this is going to be a little more in-depth than a regular ol' contest, I'm definitely going to have some great prizes. Yup, prizeS. Right now, I think there's going to be six winners with different prizes, and among the prizes will be the charm bracelet above, a signed copy of A MILLION SUNS (as soon as I get ARCs, which are being printed now) and a secret prize.

A secret prize you say?

A secret prize, I say.

A MILLION SUNS is all about secrets, and discovering them. I am going to reveal one of those secrets, for 24 hours only, in the scavenger hunt that Colleen Houck (author of THE TIGER'S CURSE) is organizing. For more information on the scavenger hunt, click here. Basically, what's happened is that a bunch of authors are going to reveal something special--an exclusive short story, a new giveaway, a secret about a book--and you get to go off on a hunt to find all the cool stuff!

The authors participating: YA authors Josephine Angelini, Angela Corbett, Andrea Cremer, Kady Cross, Heather Davis, Bree Despain, Clare Dunkle, Marley Gibson, Abbi Glines, Colleen Houck, Tara Hudson, Elana Johnson, Alexandra Monir, Lisa Nowak, Gregg Olsen, Amy Plum, Lisa and Laura Roecker, Inara Scott, Sophie Jordan, Lani Woodland and more!

What do you need to do? Just come back on August 1st--then you can enter the contest, and get started on the scavenger hunt that will lead you to one of the secrets in A MILLION SUNS!

What is Love?

What is love? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more.



Sorry. I couldn't help adding the cheesy music video to this.

Anyway, last night my  ever-patient husband took me to see DEATHLY HALLOWS! Yay! But with all the hoopla surrounding it, there's been some great discussions about one of the most complex charatcers of the series.

Snape.

If you follow my Tumblr or Twitter, you might have noticed that I've gotten into a few (friendly!) debates about this character recently. The thing is...

I don't think Snape loved Lily.

Let me back up.

The Eskimos have how many gazillion words for snow because there are so many different kinds of snow to them. We need a few more words for love.

First there's true wuv love. It's so trite to call it that, but there's just a lack of a better word. True love is selfless. True love is a matter of putting another ahead of oneself. True love cares for the other's happiness more than one's own.

There's the Biblical definition of love, and while it is a bit cliched and read aloud at every wedding, it's no less true.

I honestly believe there needs to be more true love in the world. I think that between couples, on a romantic level, true love is often lacking--which leads, ultimately, to a lot of unhappiness and broken hearts. The easiest and most common form of true love we see in society today is the love a parent feels for a child. The way a parent will give up something he or she wants for their son or daughter is, at it's base, the heart of true love.

Of course, it's a sad but true situation that not every parent loves his or her child in a true way. You need only see an episode of Toddlers and Tiaras to know that: some parents replace true love for their child with a selfish sort of love that twists itself into something ugly. I saw that sometimes while I was teaching: a sad, self-fulfilling cycle of teen pregnancies where the teen mother believed the child was there as insurance to keep her man, or as a plaything that is there to love and adore her rather than the other way around. (This is not, btw, to say that all teen pregnancies are like this; I'm speaking of a specific few cases.)

It's often more complicated when discussing romantic love above parental love because while most parents feel true love for their children--it is, I think, a genetic default within our DNA to fall in love with our own children--I think true love on a romantic level between couples is not any sort of immediate or default response.

From my experience with teenagers--not only having been one myself, but also having taught them for six years--I think one of the earliest types of love, and most common types of love, especially among teens, is what I'll label "obsessive love."

Obsessive love--an extreme form of infatuation, perhaps even a shared infatuation--is what will lead a girl to write a boys name in every page of her notebook. It's what leads a teen to kiss a poster hanging on the wall. It's what inspires every girl (or boy) with Beiber fever. Obsessive love feels like true love, but it's often one-sided.

In its darker form, obsessive love will lead a boy to beat up a girl for looking at another man. It's what leads a girl to manipulate her boy through tears or self destruction. It produces lies and fear. It's what leads couples to burn themselves down eventually.



But obsessive love is often on a smaller scale, an unidentifiable scale that seems harmless. Obsessive love leads to devotion--and devotion can't be bad, right? It leads to hero-worship. It mimics true love in that it leads to self-sacrifice, and the one who is in obsessive love will often feel that he or she is in true love.

But the thing is...true love is shared. Obsessive love is clutched close you, like Gollum's precious.

I don't think Snape was in true love with Lily. He was in obsessive love. His love may have started out pure, but it became twisted with jealousy and guilt and regret. It became obsessive love. It became a sort of love that isn't shared, that's buried deep inside like a foul thing to be ashamed of. Yes--yes--it involved self-sacrifice, just like true love will involve. But the motivation behind the self-sacrifice wasn't pure.

Love does not destroy. But Snape's love did destroy him. He was so blindly obsessed with Lily that he forewent the possibility of love existing outside of his obsession.

Unpopular opinion: I don't think Twilight is a romantic book. I'm not speaking here as criticism or saying whether I like it or not: I'm just saying that I don't believe that Edward and Bella's love is true. I think it's a case of reciprocal obsessive love. They both have obsessive love for each other, not true love. Bella's self-destructive nature in the second book is basis of my argument here, as well as how they initially "fell" in love.

In fact, I think that many YA books don't portray true love, but instead portray obsessive love. And I don't think there's anything wrong with showing obsessive love opposed to true love, especially in YA books--I think most people experience obsessive love in some form as a teenager--it's an almost universal feeling of that age--but I also think that most people do not experience true love as a teenager...and sadly, many people never graduate from obsessive love to true love.
____
Edited to add: After posting this, I received an excellent question that I'd like to elaborate on here: Can unrequited love ever be real or always just obsessive love because it's not shared?

I think it depends. We really need more words for love! My best example is to go back to a parent's love. A parent who loves his or her child will eventually need to let that child go--move away, get married, essentially abandon the parent. I think parental love is in many ways both true and not shared equally. A child rarely--if ever--has the capacity to love a parent more than that the parent loves a child. It is in the nature of true parental love that the love, while not one-sided, is also not fairly shared. But is that love less real? No. It is more real because it is selfless in its love.

Snape's love, for example, was both unrequited and self-sacrificing--but the intent behind his self-sacrifice was not. Perhaps his love for Lily was real when he went to Dumbledore to ask him to save Lily--but the way he treated Harry after Lily's death, even though he was doing it in Lily's name, hints to me that his love had grown bitter. Had he been able to see Harry as Harry and not as James, perhaps I would see an argument for his unrequited love having been true love, but because his feelings had become so tainted with bitter anger and vitriol, his unrequited love was obsessive, not true.
____

This is something that I've definitely thought a lot about, and I know that my opinion on the matter isn't necessarily right and certainly not shared by all (Myra McEntire, I'm looking at you :P ). It's something I tried to portray in my own novel, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: when Elder first sees Amy, frozen in her cryo chamber, he experiences an almost immediate obsessive love for her. His love for her at that moment is not true. How could it be? He doesn't know her. He's only seen her--and, I have to add, I don't believe in romantic love at first sight. As Elder gets to know Amy--and as Amy gets to know Elder--there is the potential of true love (you didn't think I was going to give away the plot here, were you?) but I tried to make it very clear that Elder's initial response to Amy, while he thinks of it as love, is not. Not true love. It's infatuation at best, obsessive love at worst. These feeling will certainly change as the story progresses, and develop more in the second and third books, but in those first chapters of the first book? Not love.

My point to all of this is simple: I would like for you, as a reader, to think about what real love is. When you read a story, even a story that's labeled as romantic, ask yourself if, at its heart, the love you are witnessing is true love or obsessive love. It is important for everyone to know that there is a difference between the kinds of love a person can have, that, like the Eskimos with snow, we need different words for love.

It is fine if you have obsessive love--as long as you can recognize that it is obsessive love. Most love starts out as obsessive love. The thing is: don't settle for it. Don't stay in a relationship that's based on obsessive love alone. Obsessive love is one-sided, and if it doesn't spill over into a shared, true love, obsessive love will turn something true and pure and beautiful into something dark and twisted and hollow.

I don't often get philosophical on this blog, and even rarer do I get preachy. But if there's anything I'd like to impart today--any day--it's this: you are worthy of true love. 

Harry Potter Day!

Today is the day of the last film! Are you going? You KNOW I'm going to be there.

Before you go, watch this. It's basically the funniest thing EVER IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND EVER.



There is also this: quite funny, but I would rate it PG-13 for some crude humor:



JUST ADDED: This one totally cracked me up!

Bookanista Feature: Recommended Reads

So yesterday, I talked about how hard it is to really recommend a book to someone, especially if you don't know that person.

Well, today I'm going to try to do just that.

Here's my list of "if you like one, you'll like the other." I tried to come up with some specifics on why someone would probably like both titles--each book is individual, but each has similar elements, so that if you liked the elements in one, you'll probably like the elements in the other.

Let me know if you like this feature--I may do some more of them :)

First up:

DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth and LEGEND by Marie Lu. You're going to have a little while to wait for LEGEND--and I'll do more of a review on it later, closer to its pub date--but I think fans of DIVERGENT are going to love LEGEND.


Second on my list of comparisons:

THE NEAR WITCH by Victoria Schwab and CHIME by Franny Billingsley. If you recall my review of CHIME, you'll know that it was one of my favorite reads of last year. It truly created a whole new world where the magic seemed real--and so does Victoria's debut.


And third:

THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE by Maureen Johnson and the S.A.S.S. books published by Penguin Young Reader's Group (various authors). The SASS books (School Across the Seven Seas) are exactly the kind of books I wish I had when I was a kid--a whole series of books that feature girls who go on study abroad trips. They discover new worlds (there are books that feature many different settings--Europe, South America, a cruise ship, and more) and they typically involve a personal mystery or goal for the girl to solve. THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE is one of those rare books where the sequel is even better than the first book--and it's the epitome of its genre.

I hope you like these suggestions! If you liked one of the books in the list, you should definitely check out the other--and if you're looking for something new, try both! :)

To see what the other Bookanistas are raving about this week, check out these links:

• Elana Johnson revels in Ruby Red
• LiLa Roecker  is nuts for I’m Not Her
• Christine Fonseca  interviews picture book author Michelle McLean – with giveaway
• Beth Revis reveals her reading recommendations
• Jessi Kirby discovers Where Things Come Back
• Shannon Whitney Messenger swoons for Supernaturally – with giveaway
• Shelli Johannes-Wells features “guestanisto” author Matt Blackstone
• Carolina Valdez Miller is bedazzled by Between – with giveaway
• Shana Silver wonders at The Near Witch
• Stasia Ward Kehoe celebrates Selling Hope