Author/Agent Mandy Hubbard

Win a seat in "How to Write & Sell the YA Novel"

2012-09-12T03:09:36Z

Hey guys!

Some of you may know that I am teaching an upcoming course on Writing & Selling the YA novel for Lit Reactor. I ran this course over the summer, and I had an ABSOLUTE BLAST working with 18 students. As an agent and author I don't always have time to work in depth with aspiring authors and this class gives me the perfect excuse to critique and discuss, and I LOVE that.

I've been getting comments on twitter that folks want to join the class but aren't able to pony up the $397 price tag, so I asked for permission to give away an extra seat, and the folks at Lit Reactor obliged, so here we are! I wish I had some magically fair way to give it away to the winner who most deserved it, but I'll have to go with a plain old game of chance instead.

There are a few ways to win-- follow me, tweet the giveaway, and/or leave a comment. Each of those gives you one entry. (And I think rafflecopter allows you to tweet once each day for an extra entry!).

Good luck and I'm so excited to work with the winner-- the course includes several lectures and four critiques, which cover 30 pages and a query letter, so I end up getting to know everyone and their novels pretty well.

The contest is open until Wednesday, September 19, since the course starts September 20.

(Rafflecopter didn't want to embed, so please follow the link below to enter.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ode to Throne of Glass... and lifelong writer friends.

2012-06-08T15:48:44Z

I recently scored an advanced copy, and today I finished reading THRONE OF GLASS, which comes out in two months:

By the time I got to the end, I had tears in my eyes, for a thousand reasons. The story is beautiful, so fully developed it’s easy to believe it has spent a decade evolving and changing. It’s the story of an assassin, of a prince and a captain of the Royal Guard, the story of a world so fully realized, so completely layered, I want to believe it exists. It’s rags to riches and back again, it’s ball gowns and sword fights, it’s love and loss.

It’s so many things it’s nearly impossible to put to words.

Sarah J. Maas, the author, started writing this book in her teens, on a site called Fictionpress—the same site where I once penned some utterly horrible books, starting when I was 20—which was in 2003. I can say without a doubt, if I had not stumbled upon that site, I would not be writing today.

In 2008, five years after joining the site, I got my first book deal—a two book deal for Prada & Prejudice. I didn’t write for fictionpress any more, but I popped in on it occasionally, and I never forgot the then titled QUEEN OF GLASS. While I found modest success on the site (my most popular story has over 150,000 hits, with 600 or so reviews…), my success paled in comparison to Sarah’s. I am not sure if there is a ‘ranking’ system on the site, but it would be nearly impossible for any one to say they had a story more popular than hers.

She’d left a note up months (years?) prior, that she was planning to revise QUEEN OF GLASS. And then she went mostly silent. I didn’t know Sarah. We’d never emailed, or IM’ed, or anything like that. But the story stuck with me, and I felt a certain camaraderie with this writer I’d never talked to, but who clearly took her writing as seriously as I did. Her talent shone through, and she deserved to find success.

So, randomly, on September 5, 2008, I looked up her fictionpress profile, found her email, and emailed Sarah. Here’s what I said:

I just thought I'd drop you a line and see how everything is going in regards to revising QUEEN OF GLASS, and if you are pursuing publication. The reason I ask, is that I too, started on Fictionpress (in 2003) and got a book deal this year for my debut, PRADA AND PREJUDICE, from a major publisher. It's been a crazy journey from Fictionpress to publishland! Since QOG is one of the books I really love from FP ( I think you are insanely talented and creative!) I wanted to see if you had any questions about how I made the journey or just needed any help in general.

It sounds kind of pompous when I read it now. I sound all, “Since I am so amazing and know everything, I thought I’d offer you my advice!” haha.

Sarah replied, saying:

Thank you so, so much for your letter—and congratulations on getting your book deal! I do, in fact have some questions—and can use whatever help I can get!...

Later, in her email:

I’ve queried three agents, and all of them have turned down QoG. Their main reason was its length

I smiled, remembering how it felt when I got those first few rejections and though OMG I AM NOT GOOD ENOUGH. I told Sarah that three rejections was NOTHING – in big ol caps—telling her I knew plenty of successful authors that had 30, 40, 50 rejections…and then asked how long QOG was. It was… LONG.

So I said:

Although it would probably take me a few weeks to get through it, would you like me to read QOG and see where you can trim some?

To which Sarah replied:

I’d be honored/thrilled to have you look at QoG, and please don’t hesitate to chop out extra junk.

She attached the book that day, and based on our email chain, it looks like it took me two months to send back the book, during which time we didn’t talk at all. She probably thought I disappeared and she’d never hear from me again. I don’t remember how long I had the book before I opened it, but I remember sitting on the train every morning and every afternoon—thirty minutes each way—for a couple of weeks, totally engrossed in her world, her assassins, her beautiful, beautiful writing. At that time the book was 900+ pages long—247,000 words.

When I was done, I wrote back:

Okay, I finally finished my critique. I wish I could express how much I truly adore your novel, but even though I am a writer, words escape me. Its original and beautiful and heartfelt and touching and so much more…

I know you believe in this book in your soul. And I know you want to share it with readers. And the only way to do that is to fit it within the parameters of publishing. Which means cutting 100K words. I want to warn you that I cut your novel down to 157K…

I remember typing up that email, and feeling like I should write it while covering my face with one hand and looking at it through my fingers. Sarah and I had exchanged maybe 5 or 6 emails at this point, and I had no idea how she’d take my advice. I’d spent almost two weeks of my (little) free time, and I half thought she might smile politely, thank me, and then chuck everything. A lot of writers are so close to their precious manuscripts that they don’t take advice well, and I was no one to her. Just a random person who had emailed, volunteered to crit her novel, and then hacked it to pieces.

It’s like if she was painting her house and I randomly walked up all, “You don’t know me, but I’ ma professional painter. You missed a spot.”

But Sarah is a true pro—even back then—and she jumped on board immediately. We fired back and forth, talking about various subplots. I also just realized in looking over our emails that it was Sarah who first used one of my absolute favorite analogies for danger/villains/etc in writing. Says Sarah:

To make a weird analogy, part of the reason why Jaws works so well as a scary movie is because we don't see the shark for most of it, and we're left to our imagination's worst fears.

This was a girl who knew what she was talking about.

In one of my emails—November 18, 2008, I said this:

And after struggling for three years to get my break, I am totally happy to do anything I can to help someone. You're the type of writer I'm willing to help-- the type of person who is taking it 100% seriously, who researches the industry, who writes almost every damn day, and who believes in her own work deep in her soul. That kind of passion deserves to make it.

Plus, when you're bigger then Tolkein, I can have YOU blurb ME. :-)

Sarah started querying the following month, after wading through all my notes and strike-throughs and gibberish, and a month later, an agent called and offered her representation. It sold later that year to Bloomsbury. Helping her gave me a big moment of clarity-- I wanted to do this for a job, not just as a friend and a writer. She's a big part of the reason I became an agent.

And now, with THRONE OF GLASS coming out this August, I have to say—I think Sarah’s poised to be blurbing my novels any day now.

Sarah, like I said above, you deserve to make it. And make it, you did. Congratulations on an amazing, amazing novel. I could not be more proud to call you a friend, and I can’t wait until the world gets to read THRONE OF GLASS.

Leap day musings

2012-02-29T16:19:24Z

Today, as everyone knows, is Leap Year. (Leap Day?) Since I have been musing lately on how very much has changed in four years, I thought it was fitting that I blog today about where things stood for me last leap year.

Let’s rewind to our last leap day, February 29, 2008. I had been writing for five years, seriously pursuing publication for three years. I had signed my first agent in January of 2006, two years prior.

The novel I signed her with, THE JETSETTER’S SOCIAL CLUB, had already crashed and burned on submissions. We had about twelve rejections, all of them oh-so-very “meh.”

If the road to publication is comprised of all the circles of hell, the first circle, I am telling you, is the “not right for me” or “didn’t connect with the voice” circle. Those piddly, two sentence rejections that dismiss your novel like a cold, overcooked steak. (Wait, can a steak be both cold and overcooked? If so, I guess that was THE JETSETTER’S SOCIAL CLUB.)

I had lived in that first circle for more than two years—throughout all of 2005 as I queried, and then in 2006, until my agent decided that maybe another project would be a stronger debut.

And so she sent out PRADA & PREJUDICE.

And that’s when I reached the next circle of hell. The “I really love this, like this, this is so great, and yeah… I still don’t feel strongly enough to take this on.”

If my book was a steak, I guess it had reached luke-warm status. But then… someone saw something in it.

And they asked me to revise it.

Revise and Resubmit requests are a staple of the industry, something not a lot of people necessarily aspire to receive, but I was overjoyed. I had reached the next circle of hell.

Also, I may have just realized that in this analogy, the final result (publication) is still hell. I have realized it, and I am amused by it, so let’s just roll with it.

Throughout the months leading up to leap day in 2008, I continued to revise PRADA & PREJUDICE, seeing it through drafts four, five, and six. In fact, I received more than one revision request, so I would revise both for specific editors, and as we gathered rejections/criticism.

I continued to bounce back and forth between the second and third circle—between lovely detailed rejections and revision requests.

But by February 29, 2008, I had been agented and on submission for more than two years. Prada & Prejudice had spent 14-15 months making the rounds, and I’d amassed 20 rejections.

I once likened the feeling to standing at a door, pounding on it with all I had, and wondering if any one would ever answer. If any one would ever just open the damned door and let me inside, where all my published friends were.

That’s what it’s like, isn’t it?

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. If so, let’s just agree that writers are insane, shall we? I’m allowed to say that because I am one. I think that’s how this stuff works.

So, apparently, I insanely wrote and wrote and revised and revised and I just kept waiting for a different result. I kept waiting for a yes instead of a no.

That leap day in 2008, I didn’t know if I would ever be published. I didn’t know if I was good enough to be. I knew that at any moment, my agent could email me and tell me we’d had a good run at it, and that we needed to trunk PRADA & PREJUDICE. And it would have been a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

She had more than done her job and my book hadn’t sold, and I had nothing else to give her. In fact, at this point I’d showed her lots of ideas and proposals and even one entire full manuscript, and to all of them, she’d given me, “meh.”

Nicely, of course, but she meant they weren’t good enough.

And so on this day I felt I was stuck. Stopped completely. She’d loved the two novels she’d shopped and they’d not sold and nothing else was good enough, and I started to wonder, really wonder, if that door was ever going to open.

I didn’t know it at the time, but my biggest revision request was still to come. It wouldn’t arrive for several more weeks, in late March or early April, as I recall.

It turns out the next circle of hell is Rewrite and resubmit. We had an enthusiastic response to the general idea of Prada & Prejudice—and the title—but this editor wanted me to go in a new direction. An entirely new direction.

I’d been standing at that door for so long, and now it seemed like I could hear someone on the other side, and all I needed to do was convince them to open the door. And this time, I refused to fail. So I tried a whole new approach.

I opened a blank word document.

I stared at the empty page.

And I started over.

From scratch.

After six drafts of the novel, I pitched everything I had and started again.

I wrote on the train every day—30 minutes each way. And during my lunch breaks, and at night. My daughter was 10 months old and my husband worked nights—so that we could avoid day care—and that meant I had to keep her up as late as possible so that she would sleep in and allow him even a few hours of sleep. I was exhausted by the time I put her to bed but I stayed up late anyway, working on the new draft.

Eventually, we resubmitted the book, and I held my breath.

And it was rejected. It’s funny, all these years later, because as an agent I still submit to this editor, and I’ve actually met her in person, and she’s absolutely lovely. And I have NO hard feelings whatsoever for her rejection, because I actually credit her for helping me get published.

I tell this story at conferences—of the editor who asked me, essentially, to rewrite my book and then rejected it—and I think people expect me to be, at the least, annoyed with her.

It was the challenge—the carrot on the stick—that forced me to take a hard look at the book and do what it had needed all along. To dig much deeper.

Still, there is an especially deep circle of hell on the way to publication called, “Getting your hopes really, really high before you get rejected,” because, well, it’s agonizing to still be standing on the wrong side of that door, staring at the doorknob so sure you're about to watch it turn, and instead you hear the footsteps as they walk away.

Amazingly, my agent still did not give up. We were now 22 rejections in, and she said, “you know what? You worked really hard and the book has been totally rewritten. Lets take it out again.”

And she did. And two weeks later, we had two offers from major publishing houses. It sold in a two book deal to Penguin.

And now on this leap year of 2012, my career looks like this:

But I didn’t know that, on February 29, 2008. I only knew I was still banging on a door that may never open.

I’m writing this not just to reflect on my own career changes, but to say this: Today is your leap year of 2012. All you know is what your career looks like right now, at this very moment. Four years from now you’ll look back and remember where you were, and maybe you’ll marvel at how far you’ve come. If not becuase you're published, but becuase you've committed to a dream. Becuase your writing has improved. Because you've made friends you never would have met otherwise.

Let this day be the day you make a commitment.

Let this day be the day you decide you’ll keep banging on the door-- for another four years.

Maybe they’ll be four years of rejection and dejection and struggle, but maybe they’ll be four years of triumph and success.

No one can promise you success. But you can earn it.

So today, we celebrate… OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Just kidding about that last part.

Call for Interns Closed...

2012-02-28T14:40:14Z

Thanks so much you guys! I was overwelmed with the response to my intern call. Y'all are amazing, and I'm so humbled that even one person would give their time to me for free.

I just contacted the two interns I selected, so if you don't have an email from me, I'm sorry to say that we won't have the chance to work together this time.

Please know that I had 130+ responses, and then two or three dozen emails starred for further consideration, and could only select two, and it was such a hard choice!

Thanks again everyone! Keep an eye on my blog or twitter in the future in case another opportunity comes up.

Friday Five

2012-02-24T14:54:11Z

Hi All!

I've not been blogging as much as I used to, partly due to time contraints and mostly becuase I got distracted by SHINY! NEW! TWITTER!

In any case, here's what I've been up to:

1) Earlier this week I hosted a Ustream chat to celebrate the release of IN TOO DEEP. You can watch it HERE.

2) Huge congratulations to Emily Murdoch! We sold her debut YA, THE PATRON SAINT OF BEANS, to St. Martins a few days before chirstmas, and more recently, dutch and german rights. I've promised to prance around in wooden shoes while drinking beer.

3) Blogger Naomi Bates made a wonderful trailer for IN TOO DEEP:

4) I'll be a WHIDBEY ISLAND WRITER'S CONFERENCE next weekend, with fellow D4EO agent Bree Ogden, and this summer at PNWA.

5) Finally,this week I had the absolute pleasure of reading Sarah Maclean's newest regency-set romance, A ROGUE BY ANY OTHER NAME.

YOU GUYS. I don't do a lot of book reviews on this blog, but.... WOW. I've now read all four of her romances and her YA romance, and this is her best yet. I seriously can't get over the chemistry between the two characters. *Swoon*. Get thee to a bookstore next week when it releases!

Intern(s) needed

2012-02-23T05:02:49Z

Hi All,

I am in need of a new intern (or two) to maintain the query pile, and also likely read some full manuscripts of your choosing. It means managing an email account by screening the queries into folders for my review, and sending the requests/rejections once I’ve reviewed them. It would also entail writing up reader reports on full manuscripts. You will not be required to read full manuscripts that do not resonate with you-- you would simply tell me where you stopped reading and why.

I still personally read ALL of the manuscripts but knowing where you stopped and why helps cut down the time I spend reading, particularly when I'mon the fence.

I suspect it is about 5-10 hours a week (just a few hours with queries, and the full reading beyond that is at your discretion), but that’s flexible, and if I choose to select two interns, then the time can be split between both of you.

PLEASE NOTE: I represent only middle grade and young adult fiction. Those are the only two genres you will be reading, so a love of those is a must.

Some basics:

This is a remote position (it can be done anywhere. Literally. You can live in Zimbabwe.)
You can work at any time of the day.
It’s okay if you are a writer. It’s okay if you are querying and have queried me or plan to. It's okay if you are agented and/or published. You may want to make sure your agent is comfortable with it.
It is an unpaid internship, but I am happy to chat with you about publishing and give basic advice.
You may choose to call yourself a 'lit agent intern' on twitter and whatnot, but you will not be able to publically discuss that you are my intern, specifically. This is pretty standard, but i wanted to be upfront.
If you already intern for another agency, publisher, I am unable to consider you for this position, simply to avoid any conflicts of interest.
If you happen to live in the Seattle-Tacoma area (NOT required) and are interested in working together in my home office for a few hours every other monday, we may discuss this. You may also be paid in lunch dates. ;-)

Please send an email to: Mandy@d4eo.com

Include:

-Any publishing background (No experience required, but it’s good to know if you do have some)

-A list of your favorite books (5 or 10 titles).

-Do not attach anything.

-I do not need a full blown resume. Keep it casual and just tell me a bit about yourself and your favorite books. If you WANT to include your resume that is fine, but please paste it below the rest. No need to write a new resume just for me.

I will wait until this weekend to screen the applicants, so the position is “open” until Friday, August 24 at midnight.

IN TOO DEEP live event February 21!

2012-02-13T14:30:35Z

*dusts off blog, looks around, whistles*

Man, it has been awhile since this thing has been updated! Sorry about that. I'm finding I have plenty of time for bite-sized conversations on Twitter, but this poor blog keeps getting ignored. Except for thos spammers with Louis Vuitton luggage sales.

In any case, great things have been happening lately, including the release of IN TOO DEEP!

IN TOO DEEP, for those uninitiated, is about a dark lie spiraling out of control.

To celebrate the release, I'm going to be participating in a USTREAM live chat! It takes place on Tuesday, February 21, at 5pm CST. The details are HERE.

I hope you'll join me!

Dangerous Boy Cover & Description

2011-12-02T03:06:24Z

Hey Guys!

Exciting news! The folks at Razorbill have been working on a killer cover for DANGEROUS BOY, and I saw the latest version last week. I was (im)patiently waiting a final draft, and then.. it popped up on Amazon. It's already being picked up by bloggers, so I thought I'd share it here.

SO, without further ado....

TA DA!

I totally love how much this cover captures the mystery and mood of DANGEROUS BOY.

There's also been some not-quite-right copy floating around (and getting posted to GOODREADS) so here's a more accurate draft-- keeping in mind it IS a draft and not final:

Harper’s new boyfriend Logan Townsend is everything she never knew she always wanted—tall, muscular, with tousled brown hair that falls effortlessly around his face. But what’s most exciting about Logan is that he’s exhilaratingly dangerous, and dating him allows Harper to say, “buh bye” to her good-girl past and “hello” to newfound adventure.

            There’s only one problem with Harper’s otherwise heart-stopping romance: Logan’s twin brother Daemon. Harper knows he’s a bad seed, but she tries to look past his dark, icy stare and his chilling demeanor. After all, he and Logan are a package deal.

            Then cow bones start appearing in people’s mailboxes, a flock of birds show up dead, and all of the cars in the senior parking lot are given flat tires—and covered with blood-red handprints. Logan insists that Daemon isn’t involved—sure, he’s had some trouble in the past, but they moved to Harper’s quiet northwest Washington town so that they could both start over.

            Harper desperately wants to believe Logan, but the more he tries to protect his brother, the more she wonders what she isn’t being told. Now, Harper must unearth the hidden secrets of the mysterious Townsend brothers’ history if she and Logan are to have any hope of a future. But learning what brought Logan and Daemon to town won’t put just her heart in jeopardy... She’s playing with her life.

You can Add Dangerous Boy to your GOODREADS SHELF or PREORDER IT ON AMAZON

GETTING CAUGHT-- The first chapter

2011-10-07T04:16:04Z

Happy (early) Friday!

I wanted to let everyone know that GETTING CAUGHT is promo-priced at 99cents for October, and is available for both Amazon and B&N's Nook. And of course, if you don't have a kindle or nook, both sites allow you to download the apps for your phone or computer.

GETTING CAUGHT is a full-length YA novel about two friends in a prank war that won't end until one of them gets caught. And, you know, there's a boy. ;-)

Here's the first chapter if you'd like to check it out! :-)

Today is the day Jess Hill goes down.

I’m not giving up until she’s been fully discombobulated, disgruntled, disparaged. Until she’s been dismembered.

I’m standing behind the gym, near the dumpsters, waiting for the transaction to be made. This must be where all the smokers light up before class, because the smell of stale cigarettes mingles with the garbage. Also because a couple of scruffy-haired losers came out here a second ago with butts in their mouth and freaked when they saw me, as if being Valedictorian means I’m also Willow High’s narc.

Okay, so I’m probably the first person ever to hide out behind the school reading the Princeton Review’s SAT prep book. My version is dog-eared and rumpled, since I’ve had it since freshman year. I’ve memorized every single word in the vocabulary section, from A to Z, but I’m working on the D’s again just to make absolutely sure.

I look up from the book again, and a trickle of sweat slides down my ribcage. It’s January, the first day back since Christmas break, so I should be freezing, not sweating. Though Ken told me the only people who come to this side of the building are the stoners and the janitors, I’m still nervous about getting caught with the offending material. The war has raged for three years now, and with each passing prank I’m more determined to see to it that Jess is the one who gets caught.

I just want to make the deal and get the hell out of here so I can watch her humiliation unfold. She so deserves what’s coming to her. I grit my teeth, thinking of the stunt she pulled last month. I’ve always loved reading the school paper because there’s a section in it where I talk about senior class activities. I’m the president, after all. But she went and ruined it. Somehow she slipped in a half-page ad, right below my column, that read, “Peyton Brentwood loves wiener dogs.” At first, I just snorted in disdain. It seemed totally stupid. But the guys went crazy over it. You should have seen the looks I got in the hallway that day. It was a bunch of smirks and winks and even a “How you doing?” I figured they’d forget about it over Christmas break, but that was giving them way too much credit. I’m still the wiener-dog loving Class President.

I clip those articles, too. I’m building a file in the hopes it will help me get some freelance jobs to help with college tuition. And now I can’t use that one at all.

I’m dying to get this new prank rolling, to redeem myself from the utter humiliation of, well, loving wiener dogs. I don’t know why I let that one get to me. I don’t know why I let any of them get to me but I do, and every time she gets a really good one in, I’m filled with so much rage I can’t even begin to see clearly. Jess Hill does not deserve to have the upper hand. She’s a backstabbing loser of a wench.

Plus, she half-asses everything, and I put hours of planning into my pranks.

Finally, Ken Greeley pokes his head out of the door. “All clear?”

He gives me one of his famous smiles that makes half the Senior class swoon. I just find it annoying. “You’re late,” I snap.

He sidles over to me and scratches his head. “Who’s helping who here?”

God, he is so slimy. I don’t know how a guy like him could be so popular. Maybe it has something to do with those big blue eyes, dimples, rippling muscles, and perfect hair. He’s what most girls at Willow High call a major catch. When Bryn, my best friend, asks me why I don’t think so, I tell her it’s because I’ll do my fishing when I’m safely ensconced in the Harvard campus. The guys there have to be more mature, and less, oh, disingenuous.

When he reaches out to tug my crazy blond curls, I bat his hand away. “Quit it. I have to get to Physics. So let’s make this quick.”

“All work and no play…”

That’s the problem with being smart, but not a total geek. All the guys have this fantasy that under my uptight schoolgirl façade there’s this wild sex goddess waiting for the right man to unleash her. I suppose the infamous prank war somehow perpetuates this fantasy. They don’t realize that pranks have nothing to do with being wild and crazy. It takes military precision and copious amounts of planning. And it’s fueled by an unlimited supply of anger, not the desire to be a jokester or clown or, God forbid, a rebel like Jess.
I glare at him.

He shrugs as if to say It’s your loss. Whatever. “Fine. Give them here.”

I reach into my backpack and pull out a paper bag. Making sure the edge is folded securely so that nothing will come out, I hand it to him. I’m instantly relieved, because at this point, there’s no possibility of being caught red-handed. Even if the principal freaks over this prank, he won’t have evidence to tie me to it. “You guys know what to do, right?”

“Hey, I’m an expert with these things.”

I roll my eyes.

He grunts. “Yeah. You told us, like, a hundred times.”

I give him a little grin, knowing he’s probably right. That’s the reason why I’ve gotten straight A’s since kindergarten. It’s not just a matter of having book smarts. I never leave anything up to chance. I analyze the risk, consider the consequences. I prepare. So of course I’m going to win this prank war. Because as the rules go, there’s only one way to lose. And that’s by getting caught. And there’s no way Jess, with her fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants tendencies, is ever going to beat me.

“Dave is helping, right?”

Ken just gives me a blank look.

“It’s important that Dave is in on it. Salt in the wounds, so to speak.”

“I got it, Peyton. Chill.” He reaches out as if to rub my shoulders, but I shrug him off.

“Thanks!” I say, hurrying away before he can come on any stronger. As I jog off to Physics, I slather Purell all over my hands. And as I enter the classroom and return the hall pass to its peg near the door, I breathe a sigh of relief.

The planning is over. Now all I have to do is sit back and enjoy the show.

On Bookscan (Or Author Central) Vs Royalty Statements

2011-10-03T16:08:56Z

So, over the weekend an author friend emailed me, asking me about discrepencies between bookscan (she got her data through Amazon's author Central, which shows you up to 8 weeks of sales) and her royalty statements. she's not the first person to be confused by the wide gap between the two sources. Some point out that bookscan "fails to capture" most of their sales. Others say bookscan is higher, and can't figure out why. And after typing up such a big email to her, I thought I'd share it here. So here goes:

So, on bookscan vs royalty statements, it's a little bit complicated, so bear with me.

Thing #1: Royalty statements are based upon copies shipped. Bookscan is based upon copies SOLD TO CONSUMERS, and doesn't generally include ebook sales. Therefore, over the life of a book, bookscan CANNOT be higher than royalty statements, or there's a serious error somewhere. You can't sell more copies than your publisher shipped. (Because again, bookscan only covers physical books. this does not include target or costco either...)

However, you have to take into account that there may be a singular statement or two where you have higher bookscan than royalty statements. Because of the timing.

Say your book comes out January 1. Your royalty statement is for January 1 to June 30. Your publisher ships 20,000 copies. Therefore, your royalty statements say you sold 20,000 copies.Did you actually SELL those? No. Your publisher sold them to bookstores. They are returnable.

By contrast, for those 26 weeks during the first royalty period, you sold 250 copies to READERS every week. Your bookscan numbers show 6,500 copies sold. (YES, that means bookscan says 6500, royalty statement says 20,000.) So that means at the end of the royalty period, in bookstores across the country, there are still 13,500 books just sitting around on shelves, waiting to be bought.

Now, let's fast forward to your second royalty statement, July 1 to December 31. Say you are STILL selling 250 copies every single week, and move another 6500 copies. Some stores re-order to fill their stock. But maybe your books don't sell well on the west coast and they ship them back. It's actually possible to end up with net RETURNS (as in negative sales)on a royalty statement even when bookscan shows you sold 6500.Or maybe only 1,000 copies get returned, and 2,000 get purchased. Now you've sold 1,000 copies in a royalty period where bookscan says you've sold 6,500.

But step back. Your overall statements say you've sold 21,000 copies, and bookscan says you've sold 13,000. So your overall royalty statements are still higher. And remember, there's still a whole lot of books sitting in bookstores, waiting to be bought. Your publisher already credited you those sales, but bookscan won't pick them up until Suzy Reader walks up to the register and purchases the book.

That's why it's complicated. Your publisher could over print or over ship in the first statement and show really slow sales on the second one, but meanwhile consumers are still buying it.

That said-- if your bookcan is higher than your cumulative royalty statements, then you have a problem.

What Authors Learned from their Editors

2011-09-30T15:50:16Z

I was thinking lately about the weird things authors do-- personal tics-- when they write. Overusing certain phrases or terms, bad uses of punctuation, etc.

For me, editing, even copyediting, is rather enlightening.

- I have always said, "She walked towards the street." Um, no. There's not supposed to be an S on there, at least not in the US.

- My editor told me while editing IN TOO DEEP, "Are you aware you use the term Hyper-Aware about a million times? I've become hyper aware of your use of hyper aware."

-The same editor also told me he was convinced I had "random capitalization disease." Sometimes I capitalize Ice Skating. Other times I don't capitalize washington. or coke. And trust me, my characters like coke. It could be pretty bad.

So, I thought it would be fun to ask my author friends what THEY learned from their editors, and here are their answers:

Jennifer Brown, author of HATE LIST AND BITTER END:

On my last manuscript it was "just." I spent an entire two-hour flight just deleting "justs." Also, I learned from my copyeditor that Dumpster needs to be capitalized, and I'm pretty sure my copyeditor would jump up and down with glee if I learned the difference between "each other" and "one another."

Saundra Mitchell, Author of SHADOWED SUMMER and THE VERSPERTINE:

My books are populated entirely by bobbleheads. If I had to remove every single head nod, bob, shake and tip(ped sideways) I would literally lose 3000 words right off the top.

Jennifer Brown adds: Me too, only mine are always gazing into one another's (each other's? GAH!) eyes.

Kristina Springer, author of THE ESPRESSOLOGIST, JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS, and MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS adds:

I have the happiest characters on earth. I say "smile" ten gazillion times (give or take a few gazillions) a book.

Megan Crewe, author of GIVE UP THE GHOST and the forthcoming THE WAY WE FALL, says:

I learned that I have a tendency to use "further" when I should write "farther." And I've also learned that just how many ways US speech is different from Canadian (e.g., in Canada we say "grade six"; in the US you say "sixth grade.")

Jennifer Jabaley, author of LIPSTICK APOLOGY and CRUSH CONTROL adds:

I confuse the terms 'bring' and 'take'. For example I'm going to bring her to the airport instead of take. Wait, it should be take, right? SEE, I still don't know.

Michelle Zink, author of the PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS trilogy and TEMPTATION OF ANGELS, says:

Pre-edit, I use the word "knowledge" A LOT.

Like, 126 times in one book.
O_o

Cheryl Herbsman, author of BREATHING says:

Commas. I use them when I don't need to and don't use them when I do need to! It led to whole discussions between me, my editor, and copyeditor :)

Kim Derting, author of THE BODY FINDER and THE PLEDGE says:
I'm a "just"er too.

Also, still don't know how to use lay and lie properly. True story.

And this last book, I learned my characters have glittering/sparkling/glinting eyes. All of them.

I also misuse words and often don't learn the true meaning until copy edits. In The Pledge it was "stringent" (I meant "astringent" apparently). Entirely different meanings ;)

Erin Dionne, author of MODELS DONT EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES and NOTES FROM AN ACCIDENTAL BAND GEEK says:

I can't seem to learn when to capitalize Mom and Dad, and I'm also forever forgetting when my characters have stood up or sat down and have them repeatedly sitting and standing like they're in church!

Malindo Lo, author of ASH and HUNTRESS says:

Add me to the "just" club. I'm currently stripping what seems like hundreds of them from my book — up to five per page at a time! It's like once there's one "just" the others just start multiplying. They like to appear in packs.

I also love the em dash like nobody's business, but I'm not giving them up! *clings to —*

Cindy Pon, author of SILVER PHOENIX adds:

I learned that if you are using ellipses, and it's actually at the end of a whole sentence, you use FOUR periods....

Cyn Balog, author of FAIRY TALE, SLEEPLESS, and STARSTRUCK says:
I think I said "rifle" as in, "she rifled through her bag" 250 times in a 250 page manuscript. And I learned while writing Fairy Tale that Tinker Bell is two words.

Rhonda Stapleton, author of the STUPID CUPID trilogy says:
I have an em-dash fetish, and I loooooove...love...ellipses.

Also, I have a problem with body parts acting of their own volition. E.g., eyes reaching across the room, fingers walking on their own, legs twitching. Zombie apocalypse much?

Sarah Ockler, of TWENTY BOY SUMMER and FIXING DELILAH says:

That Google Translate isn't always your best friend when it comes to inserting witty commentary in another language. :-)

Janet Gurtler, author of I'M NOT HER and IF I TELL says:

My editor thought that my book, waiting to score, sounded like gay erotic porn because of the first sentences I had. Which my editor made me change

Danielle Joseph, author of SHRINKING VIOLET, PURE RED, and INDIGO BLUES, says:

In Pure Red I learned that it's not easy to shove cracker crumbs in your pocket when you are kneeling so I had to get Cassia off the floor.

Charity Tahmaseb, author of GEEKS GUIDE TO CHEERLEADING, says:

I learned that not everyone knows what a "hotdish" is and that it might need a description (as in "tuna noodle") for clarity.

Also, we apparently used the term "insanely short skirt" 276 times in Geek Girl. It was suggested we cut back on those.

(To which Rhonda Stapleton added:
I've been to my daughter's high school--you weren't exaggerating in your quantity. haha).

So, readers... what did YOU Learn from your editors, critique partners, etc? Any personal writing ticks you'd like to share?

Tongue in Cheek guide to the Road to Publication

2011-09-27T20:32:15Z

Step 1: You write the damn book. Yeah, this part is a lot of work. That's what seperates the wussies from the real writers. But that part you knew, right?

Step 2: You revise the damn book. And this doesn't mean running spell check or having your bff Sally proof read it. It means finding critique partners who you may never meet in real life, and trusting them to rip apart your book with a red pen. You'll wallow, you'll cry, and you'll emerge with a better book in the end.

Step 3: You query agents. With a kick-butt query letter that has also been ripped to shreds and reassembled, maybe with the help of the fine folks at verlakay or absolute write. Because there's nothing like the internet to make shy, introverted people become gleefully brutal. It's for your own good. I promise.

Step 4: You land a kick butt agent. S/he gets out an even bigger red pen, and you revise your book. You may also realize you should have listened to that one girl on that one message board who said your protagonist was kind of annoying.

Step 5: Your agent sends your baby out into the world. You refresh your inbox 945 times. Per Hour. You type up 32 emails every day, saying, "Have you heard anything?" only to delete them becuase you know that would be annoying, and also, your agent isn't going to forget to tell you about that six figure pre-emptive offer. But one or two of those emails will manage to get sent, and then your agent will swear s/he still loves you, and to sit tight. Which you'll do, cool as a cucumber. Not really. You pretend to be cool as a cucumber, but really, you just sent all your writing buddies an email titled Submissions Update #455, in which y'all analyze that one line in that one email to try and figure out if maybe there's good news coming.

Step 6: You may get to 'second reads" a time or two or "go to comittee" and your hopes will soar,but sometimes they'll crash, and you'll consider quitting this whole writing thing in favor of becoming a potato farmer. You'll dream of a world with no internet or books. But then you'll realize you'd probably just write your next novel in the dirt with a stick, so you may as well keep at it.

Step 7: You get the call, and after those first few sentences everything else gets sort of hazy. You know, as if those first few sentences she spoke were shots of Bacardi 151. She'll probably email you all this crap later, so you don't really have to pay attention. Just focus on the jumping up and down part. You trust her anyway, right? That's why she's your agent.

Step 8: Several days usually pass in which your agent rounds up answers from everyone else, and you stare at the wall in a daze, and the only answer you really want is to the question: "When can I blog about this?"

Step 9: You accept a deal. You finally tell your mom you wrote a book, becuase chances are you didn't consider yourself a "real writer" until now. You wait for a parade, but then realize the parade probably comes on release day. Which, come to think of it, is like two years away.

Step 10: TWO YEARS, ARE YOU EFFIN KIDDING ME? HOW WILL I SURVIVE?

Step 11: The euphoria of selling your novel wears off, and the real work starts. Your editor sends you a revision letter that is about 12 pages long, and you contemplate putitng every other page through the shredder so that you don't die right now, curled up in a ball under your desk. But then you eat that entire apple pie and get to work, and realize it's not so bad and hey, your editor might just be the smartest friggin person you've ever met. The panic will come back about 3 days before your book is due. It won't go away until she has read all your revisions and told you you're awesome.

Step 12: Line edits. These don't suck too bad. Well, except that one line on page 99 that you were sure was the best line you've ever written, and your editor just crossed it out.

Step 13: Copy Edits. These don't suck too bad either, but HOLY CRAP, do you use commas wrong. And WTF, you really thought it was "towards." There's no S on the end of that? You google it just to be sure, but turns out this person who does copy editing for a living actually knows what she's talking about.

Step 14: First Pass Pages, or FPP: You're supposed to be proofreading this- your LAST proofread, but you can't stop petting those cool swirls they use for chapter headings.

Step 15: ARCs. For four and a half seconds, you're squealing like a little kid on christmas morning. Then you realize: If you're holding an ARC, other people are too. And reviews will arrive soon. Oh, snap, you really should have paid more attention to those FPPs, becuase right there on page 7 is a typo. Every reader in the whole world is going to stop reading on page 7, you're sure of it.

Step 6: Finished Books. You don't expect them unitl release date, but they almost always arrive a week or two early. One day you arrive home, and there's a whole box... just sitting on your porch, all innocent like.

You've made it.

Oh, except.... Book #2 is due in three weeks.

[Originally posted July 2010]

Introducing... GETTING CAUGHT

2011-09-07T05:33:43Z

Hi Guys! I have an exciting project to announce! GETTING CAUGHT, a YA rom-com I cowrote with Cyn Balog, is up on Amazon later this week! You can add it to your goodreads here. Cyn is one of the most talented writers I know-- her paranormal YA romances have been published (and will continue to be published) by Delacorte. As you probably know (since you read this blog!) I am published by both Penguin and Flux. This project is simply a new, joint venture by us as we continue to work with our established publishers.

You can download it for your Kindle devices RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW. It is coming to a Nook near you very soon, too, I promise. :-)

Sometimes in war, there are no winners…

Peyton Brentwood is pretty, popular, and Harvard-bound. Or so she hopes. Her only distraction from AP classes and entrance exams is the prank war with her ex-best friend, Jess Hill. Peyton is used to getting what she wants, and she’s not about to let a loser like Jess gain the upper hand.

For Jess, the prank war is an outlet, a way to get revenge on the best friend who left her behind. As if Peyton has the guts to do what it takes to win. Please. There is no way in hell Jess is going to lose this one, even if she has to hit Peyton where it hurts.

These two girls are about to discover it’s best to keep your friends close… and your enemies closer.

It is priced at $3.99 and available for Kindle (and Nook soon as well!).

IF YOU ARE A BLOGGER with an established blog (more than 6 months of steady content) please email me at amandayawriter (AT) yahoo (DOT) com to request an electronic copy, an interview, guest blog, etc. Either Cyn or I will accomodate your request.

Thanks so much, guys! I hope you enjoy GETTING CAUGHT!

Interview with a cover model...

2011-09-06T19:17:35Z

So, I got such a fun email over the weekend! It came from Cole Hitchings, the main character in RIPPLE. Erm, I mean it came from a guy named Matt, who is on the cover of RIPPLE. I asked him to answer a few questions, and he was kind enough to indulge me. So... here goes!

Hi Mathew! Can I call you Matt? I feel like we should be on a nickname basis. I have, after all, 20 pictures of you in my house. Technically they are all the same, and they are on a book jacket and we’ve never met, but still.

You can call me Matt...or Cole, whatever. Ha ha

Anyway, thanks for humoring me with an interview and giving everyone a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the image on the cover of RIPPLE. To refresh your  memory, this is what it looks like:

Yep, that’s you, right there on the left, looking all hot and smoldery. So without further ado, here are my questions:

1)      First off, tell the readers about how you discovered your face graced the cover of a literary masterpiece.

Well, it was about 11 pm and my friend Rea from Los Angeles texted me and said "Saw this at Barnes and Noble! Good job! Pretty cool!" along with a picture of the book. I thought it was some sort of joke or something you could do on the internet where you put your friend's face on a billboard type thing. So I googled (is that a verb yet? googled?) your book and went to your website, and there I was! I immediately called Brittany (the girl in the picture) and told her about it. She was just as excited as I was.

2)      Where did you guys find such a gigantic  tree? The redwood forest, perhaps?

I don't exactly remember where that was actually. It was at some park around Hollywood. There was probably a homeless guy on the other side of the tree passed out. ha ha. The original setting wasn't nearly as glamorous, but I think the final products turned out great!

3)      Readers have commented that the “models” look older than 18, a common occurence in the YA publishing world. How old were you two when this shot was taken?

Yeah, nobody looks like that in high school ha ha. I think I was actually 20 years old at the time, and Brittany is a year older than me so she was 21.

4)      Do you always dress that spiffy? Also, pretend I didn’t say “spiffy.”

Ha ha!!!! No I don't usually dress that "spiffy". At the time Brittany and I had been dating for a while, and she liked to dress me. I'm more of a casual kind of guy. Jeans, flip flops, a baseball cap and a t-shirt is my day-to-day wardrobe.

5)      In the stock photo on shutterstock, it looks like there’s a castle in the background. Did that really exist?

I have no idea where the castle came from! I guess it was a vision the photographer had. There definitely was not a castle. I think there was actually a highway there. Much less romantic.

6)      I understand you’ve been reading RIPPLE over the last few days. Is it totally weird every time I describe how hot and irresistible Cole is? I am basically describing you. That must be kinda surreal.

Yes I have been reading it! Can I just say how AWESOME the book is?! I love to read, but only awesome books. If it's not good after the first 10 pages, I put it down, throw it away, burn it, etc. I'm way past page 10 in Ripple. It is a little weird to read that honestly. Mostly just because I picture myself in high school. Cole and "high school me" are complete opposites. But I still think it's pretty cool and VERY surreal. I wish I could show this to the "high school me" and tell him to keep his chin up!
[Mandy Says: I didn't even pay him to say it's Awesome! I knew I liked this guy.]

7)      Are you going to run around reading it in public just to see if people notice? I would totally do that. You should dress up in the same outfit, though, just to really complete the picture. Actually, I think you should do that and send me a picture of you holding my book which has a picture of you. Yeah. I went there.

I will definitely go out in public wearing that EXACT outfit holding the book up at eye level for people to see. If people don't notice then I'll just have to stop them and tell them! I have been shamelessly blasting the book cover all over my facebook and calling/texting/tweeting everyone to go buy the book.

8)      Do you know how Brittany feels about being described as a virtual Helen-of-Troy, so hot that guys drown themselves for her?  Is she cool with the fact that I gave her scales? Because, you know, see above? She’s still hot. Scales and all.

From what I understand, Brittany is VERY excited about it. I haven't gotten to talk to her that much lately. She's been busy with her Miss California Intl. duties. With Brittany, her and Lexi are very much the same. From the constantly looking pretty and she tends to have guys throwing themselves out her all day everyday. It's kind of funny because when I told my grandma about the book and the cover she said, "You know, Brittany is like a real life siren. She does do that to boys." But, yes she is still hot with the scales and all.

Okay, enough with the silliness.  Thanks so much for humoring me, Cole! I mean, Matt!

And in case you want more Cole, here are some outtakes from the shoot:

Do they not have the most perfect teeth you've ever seen?

Swooon!

Friday 5

2011-08-26T15:26:12Z

1) First off, HUUUUUUUUGE congrats to client Lee Bross, whose debut novel (she's writing under Lanie Bross) sold in a pre-empt to Delacorte! Head on over to the party at YA HIGHWAY to congratulate her.

Here's the deal announcement:

Debut author Lanie Bross's FATES, the story of an Executor sent to earth to bring about human destinies, who finds herself unaccountably experiencing human emotions, leading to an epic romance set across multiple worlds, to Wendy Loggia at Delacorte, in a significant deal, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, by Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary + Media, on behalf of Paper Lantern Lit.

And to make sure that *MY* role in this is clear, I represent Lee. I negotiated the deal/terms between her and Paper Lantern Lit, a book development company. Stephen represents Paper Lantern, and he brokered the deal between PLL and Delacorte.

2) I wrote this on my hand this morning:

I got a story idea while driving that revolves around a clock and OMG i am so excited!!

3) I turn in DANGEROUS BOY on Thursday. And then I am... deadline free. For the first time since... 2009. Um, yeah. I dont know what I'll do with myself!

4).... except write some option books! Which is why #2 is exciting. I am so used to writing for a bit and then switching gears into agenting for the rest of the day that I am excited to continue the grind with some new books.

5) I signed a new client this week! Head on over and say hello to Joy.

Made of Awesome.

2011-08-12T15:27:33Z

That Thing You Want to Know....Part II

2011-08-10T15:51:21Z

Awhile ago, I blogged about advances, breaking down how big of a check you'd actually see from an average advance, a six figure advance, and a "major" advance of $500,000.

My intent was to give a more realistic portrait of advances than what seems to be floating around in the world.

But, as you may have noticed, I talked only about the advance. And there are many other ways that writers earn income. The obvious is a day job, or a hard-working, successful spouse, or being a billionaire heiress. But let's say you don't have those things, and you still want to BE a writer, not just someone who writes on the train, at night, or wherever you can find 5 minutes and a flat surface to write on.

There are many other ways to make money in the publishing industry.

For one, let's say those advances outlined in my previous post were for World English or North American rights. Well, then you have the opportunity for foreign rights sales. (If you sell in world rights, you still do earn money that way-- but it goes to your publisher first, and is applied to your advance. This means you can earn out more quickly and see royalties...but if the book tanks, you may never see that foreign money. And yes-- it IS possible to earn out your advance BEFORE the book publishes, based on foreign sales alone. I know people who have done it. )

I have seen foreign sales to very small countries go for $300. I have seen them sell at auction for six figures.

Most of the authors I know who sold foreign rights were midlist books, and the rights went for anything from $3,000 to $8,000, with an occasional $10K outlier. (Keep in mind if your book sold in the US for a major deal, its much more likely the foreign sales will be for bigger money. )

Now, foreign pubs take as long or longer to pay out than US pubs, so you may not see that money for months--even a year--after the book sells to those countries. Most authors think of foreign money as a bonus that will show up when it shows up, not an income to rely on.

So, how else, as an author, can you earn money?

*Speaking engagements. Schools and libraries, in particular, can pay well, often in the $200-1,000 range for larger engagements. There's also writer's groups-- most conferences pay an honorarium. If you're going as an author, they usually aren't lucrative-- in the $100-300 range--but for keynotes it's much larger. And the nice thing is, conferences often need people to do the critiques that attendees sign up for. You can usually earn $20-40 per critique.

*Freelancing: Whether it's writing articles or editing, many authors freelance. Some of them, such as Rhonda Stapleton and Bev Katz Rosenbaum, offer editorial services for aspiring authors.

*Write-for-hire: I know a number of authors who make a living writing by juggling their independent, original projects with write for hire projects. Micol Ostow and Kieran Scott come to mind. You may know Micol from her recent books FAMILY and SO PUNK ROCK, but she's written 40 books, including TV-spin offs and A few of Puffin's STUDENTS ACROSS THE SEVEN SEAS books. Kieran writes wonderful YA under her own name, and is the writer behind the ever prolific Kate Brian brand. I am awe of them both.

*Teaching-- this is a little different than the aforementioned speaking engagements, as it's a bit more formal. Media Bistro, among others, hosts classes for aspiring writers. They often run for several weeks, and the teacher/author critiques participants, lectures, and more.

*Subrights: if your book is made into a movie, hell, a theme park, well, you should see a nice payday. Dream big, but don't bank on it.

*Royalties: If you're in the game long enough, royalties for your backlist should hopefully kick in, which means while you're getting new deals (and new advances!) you're also seeing paychecks for books that came out a couple of years ago.

*Ebooks: I am seeing more and more traditionally published authors release "shorts" and novellas onto Amazon to support their traditionally published books and build buzz/platform. It's an interesting avenue for many authors to explore.

*Anthologies: Some authors compile/edit anthologies and bring in some income that way.

So, yes. There are other ways to make money in publishing. It might not fit your dream image of sitting in your pajamas all day, staring at the blinking cursor while sipping coffee, but you could make it work.

PS: This is still meant as an illustration of income in a traditionally published author's career track. I do realize that the whole picture looks much different for a self/e-published author.

In Which You're Not as Sneaky As you Think You Are

2011-08-01T16:24:29Z

If you've been in the writing community long, you probably frequent writer-centric sites, or you haunt social networks like facebook and twitter. As a wannabe author, I used to hang out on Verla Kay's Blue Boards. If you write picture books through young adult, the blue boards are wonderful-- cram-packed with information (multiple agents and published authors are always around to answer questions) and incredibly supportive. There are many other sites too, like Absolute Write and Query Tracker Forums. I am constantly telling people to get their query letters critiqued on one of these sites before ever sending it out into the world.

But, there's a flipside to forums, and while I'm probably preaching to the choir here, it begs repeating:

The internet is not as big and anonymous as you think it is, and even when you speak in code, or scramble someone's name with asteriks and @ symbols, it's easy to find. And most folks in publishing have publishing friends too, so if someone doesn't see it themselves, chances are a friend will point it out.

On one of the boards I saw a note from the moderator saying, eseentially, that that particular board was a safe place to bitch and vent. It was even a safe place to bitch about your "friend's successes'.

o_O

GUYS. Message boards are not your living room. They are not private emails. They are readily visible to anyone with google. The writing community is small. Even if you don't name someone, with the tiniest ibt of context, we can all figure it out.

I've never been attacked on a message board, but I have seen other writers lambasted by people who have never met them, and never even spoken directly to them, not even on twitter or emails. And you know what? It hurts. Nothing is ever as perfect on the inside as it looks to people on the outside.

I've learned about what writers thought of my revision requests by seeing them discussed on message boards as well. Is it okay to discuss? Sure...but I would have loved to have talked more about my ideas with you myself. Had I known you wanted things to go a different direction, we could have talked more about it. Instead I find out your thoughts via a message board that is supposedly "private".

Because I'm an author and agent, I may be more tapped into the writing communities than the average agent. But some of the hostility and anger I've seen from some writers toward others has really put me off.

Have I ever been bitter, jealous, or angry? You bet. I would have ripped my hair out, at times, if it weren't for my CPs and writing friends and flurries of emails. So next time, consider whether a forum is really a "safe" place, and maybe send an email to your buddy instead. It's human nature to have a range of emotions, especially when you desperately want something and it seems as if someone skates in and grabs it when you've been toiling in the fields forever.

But think twice before you vent about it online.

Evolution of the RIPPLE cover

2011-07-22T17:24:29Z

One of my absolute FAVORITE parts of the writing/publishing process is seeing my cover for the first time. There's something about that moment that makes it real. I had a very strong vision for what I thought the PRADA & PREJUDICE cover would look like, but ever since, I've just sort of left it up to my publishers' amazing design teams.

When it came time for the cover on RIPPLE, I wasn't sure what to expect. The book was very different from my previous titles, both in tone and in content/hook. In fact, I'd hardly begun to even think about it when an email popped up from my editor with a cover attached to it.

This is the very first cover for RIPPLE:

I liked it-- I did. And I knew exactly what they were going for-- it captures that whimsical, fun sort of vibe they did SO well with on Prada & Prejudice and You Wish. RIPPLE would be my third title with them, and they were growing my brand. They wanted my readers to follow me with this new direction.

But I was also concerned it didn't capture the novel quite right. Part of it was that they designed the cover while I was still writing it, which meant even my editor didn't know exactly what the book would be like. Lexi, in the book, is lonely, and empty, and cursed, and the girl on this cover looks like she's dreaming about becoming a mermaid. And... I had already decided I was going to get rid of Lexi's tail (her skin changes a bit when she swims, but she no longer has a full mermaid tail like she did in the initial proposal.)

My agent and I discussed our concerns and talked to my publisher, and then all was quiet for a bit. Anyone familiar with publishing knows that authors have little to no control over their covers. I was worried, but I put it out of my mind.

Then, a few weeks later, I was in New York, having lunch with my editor and my agent. And that's when they pulled out a new cover comp. I think I gasped. They had completely scrapped the initial cover and went back to the drawing board...and come up with something that looked very similar to the final:

When i saw it in the office, her dress was red. In the book, Lexi specifically says she's drawn to greens and blues, anything that reminds her of the water-- so they quickly adjusted her dress to match, and then sent me the above jpeg. We chatted about some very minor tweaks (there appears to be some kind of garbage along the grass behind Cole's feet, and Lexi's hair is too dark...).

Very quickly thereafter, they sent me the final cover:

As you can see, they also enhanced the 'scales' on Lexi's legs, made the sky stormier, and brightened up the water.

I love it. I could not love it more. And I'm still amazed and grateful at how far Razorbill (and designer Emily Osborne!) went to get the cover just right. It could not be a better match for the moodiness, the tone, the intensity of the romance.

Not long ago, Saundra Mitchell (fellow 2009 deb and talented author!) sent me a stock image she stumbled across:

I was absolutely blown away when I saw the stock image. Emily certainly had a vision! I can't believe she was able to take that and create something so perfectly suited for RIPPLE. (also, is it just me or does it look like there's a castle in the background of the stock image?)

Many, MANY thanks to the team at Razorbill for taking my thoughts into consideration and then coming up with a cover I couldn't love more.

[RIPPLE hit stores everywhere yesterday! Learn more about it HERE.]

RIPPLE contest winners!

2011-07-22T15:50:55Z

Thanks so much for your contest entries and buzz for RIPPLE!

The winner of BUT I LOVE HIM or RIPPLE (Winner's choice!) is:
AshelynnS
(Please email your address and book choice to Mandy(AT)d4eo.com)

The winners of a first page critique OR query critique
patesden
ajmullarky
cy c
Am777 (twitter handle-- comment was unsigned!)
Saba from www.sabaawesome.blogspot.com

Please email your first page or query as an attached document to: Mandy(AT)d4eo.com
If you are not a writer please just email me and we'll figure out an alternative/solution. :-)

Epic RIPPLE release day contests!

2011-07-21T15:22:08Z

Guess what's in stores today?

RIPPLE is the story of Lexi, a girl with a dark secret-- she's cursed to spend her nights swimming, singing her deadly song and luring in unsuspecting vicitims. To keep everyone around her safe, she has no friends, and no boyfriend-- becuase the last time she fell in love, he ended up dead. But of course, there's a new boy....

RIPPLE hits bookshelves (and websites!) everywhere today, and is releasing in hardcover. (My first!)

So to celebrate, I wanted to do a contest.

There are two places to win, and TWELVE prizes! On my blog and on my twitter, I will be giving away 10 critiques (query letter or the first page, up to 200 words, of your manuscript-- winner may choose!). There will be five winners on Twitter, and Five on this blog. I will also be giving away a copy of RIPPLE or BUT I LOVE HIM (winner's choice!) to one perseon on the blog and one on twitter.

On twitter:

Tweet the following:

It's pub day for RIPPLE, a paranormal romance for teens by author/ agent @MandyHubbard! Win a critique! http://tinyurl.com/3sh3sy9 #Ripple

On the blog:
Leave a comment with a link to somewhere you've buzzed RIPPLE-- either a blog announcement linking to this contest, a blog post about RIPPLE release day, or if you've already read it-- somewhere that you've reviewed it.

Basic Rules:

I'll use a random number generator to select the winners!

The contest is to celebrate the release day, so it closes at midnight PST. I'll select winners in the morning. If you win a critique, I ask that you send over your query or first page by July 31 at the latest.

If you're not a writer and you win a critique, you are welcome to 'gift' it to someone or we can arrange an alternate prize

International entries welcome!

mixed-bag of submissions updates

2011-07-14T20:49:20Z

HI Guys!

I haven't done a submissions/slushpile update in awhile-- so here it is.

I have been reading some FANTASTIC material lately! I'm almost entirely up to date on queries. My oldest query is from July 12th. If you queried prior to July 12 and do not have a response, please requery. I'll have all of my queries requested/rejected in the next 24 hours, so I'll have a clean slate.

I have three fulls from May and then everything skips into July. Working diligently to get through the TBR stack!

To give you a flavor of what I've requested lately, I have in my TBR stack:
Contemporary YA: 7
Contemp MG: 2
Fantasy MG: 3
Fantasy YA: 5
Fantasy YA with a dystopic or sci-fi bent: 3

A note on my response times in general: I do have an intern sorting queries into various folders for me, and that's why sometimes folks who queried after you do may have a response already. She knows my tastes very well, as well as my current client list, so sometimes she may send a rejection becuase she knows it conflicts with a current client, doesn't fit what I rep (it's adult, a chapter book, etc), etc. I respond to all queries, so if it has been more than 6 weeks, simply requery.

On an FAQ: If I reject your work, you are free to query the other YA/MG specialist here at D4EO, Kristin Miller.

We cannot consider your material simultaneously, but if one of us has passed, you are free to try the other. Our tastes differ quite a bit, so you never know. :-)

Lastly, I'm still definitely building my list and there are a ton of things I'd love to see:

A) A novel in verse that knocks my socks off. I came close on one this week... still looking!

B) A genre-blending fantasy or sci-fi. Bring on the alternate histories, strange sci-fi experiments, paranormal capabilities, crazy creatures, time travel, steampunk, gravediggers, dystopian-esque worlds, alternate realities.... blend a couple of those things together, and I'm yours. A steampunk thriller! And alternate history with crazy goblins! Something!

C) Romance, Romance, Romance. This has been, and will be, on every list I ever make. If you compare yourself to Jennifer Echols, Simone Elkeles, Stephanie Perkins... wherein the story IS the romance, (as opposed to a romantic subplot), I'm your agent. Query me! :-)

D) Thriller/Suspense/Mystery: After sweet valley high, I moved straight into a Mary Higgins Clark phase. I read 20+ of her novels. If you have a whoodunnit with a heart-thumping pace, I want to see it.

E) Something beautifully lyrical and literary that emotionally wrecks me.

F) Something so insanely dark, you're not sure it could possibly sell. Like LIVING DEAD GIRL.

G) A girly MG with a fantastic hook that lends itself to a series-- a fantastic voice, and relatable MC is a must.

H) That hard-to-find MG that apeals equally to boys and girls, preferably with a fantastical twist.

If you have any questions, please do let me know!

~Mandy

IN TOO DEEP cover reveal

2011-07-08T21:20:35Z

So.... IN TOO DEEP has a cover. I saw the non-final version a few weeks ago and was awaiting a final. And then, you know, I saw it on The Story Siren's blog. She totally scooped me! (It's okay, though. Actually, it's kind of funny that a blogger had my cover before I did.)

Here it is!

I've been very secretive about this book. Here's my attempt to summarize it:

Oh what a tangle web we weave, when first we practice to deceive...

Samantha realized she was in love with her best friend, Nick, the first time she saw him flirting with another girl. Now, a year later, he's finally single, and she's going to do something about it-- flirt with Carter Davis. It goes both ways, right? He'll see her with a guy who has a rep for sleeping with half of the senior class, jump to conclusions, and finally notice her in a way other than brotherly.

But Sam walks into his Carter's bedroom in one piece, and when she walks out... she's crying, has a bruised cheek, and a torn shirt. And the other people at the party jump to conclusions.

A rumor starts... a rumor which will change everything, tear apart her school, her tiny town...and her life.

This is NOT the official copy, FYI. It's my lame summary. ;-)

Hope you like the sounds of it!

In Which Mandy Stands up and Cheers

2011-07-07T19:44:59Z

First off, go congratulate Saundra Mitchell, who's new book deal just went up in PM! yay!!

Secondly, y'all know I love me a good inspirational tale of a writer who stuck to it, kept writing despite rejections, and eventually breaks through. So, I have to send you over to Natalie Whipple's blog-- first, read her blog entry from December 2010, entitled "What to do when it IS you." I didn't know Natalie at the time-- I had just seen her blog post being tweeted over, and over, and over. So I finally went to go read it, and was struck by the similarities between Natalie's journey and my own-- she was just a year or two behind me. She'd revised for editors, been rejected, rewritten a project for her agent, etc, etc.

I knew when I read it she'd break through... becuase like me, she refused to quit, and she was doing everything right. It's just that... like me.... her road to publication was more like the Oregon Trail than an expressway.

Well, I couldn't be happier about a blog post she wrote today-- announcing her sale.

Head on over and congratulate a writer who truly deserves it. :-)

And in case you missed it back in the day, I went and unlocked the friends-only entries where I essentially blogged my rejection and dejection in real time. You can read those entries HERE. (Read them from the end to the beginning to see them chronologically. )

Thinking... About Thinking....

2011-06-28T19:47:25Z

So, most of you guys know I'm part of this fun test drive thing with a Chevy Equinox called The Chevy Girls. They told us all to plan on driving around 1400 miles, and if we needed more to let them know. They gave me this shiny new car and sent me off on my way:

1400 miles in 28 days sounds like a lot. I guess I spend way more time in my car than I thought, because I hit 1400 miles last weekend!

The thing about driving, though... is that it's where I do my thinking. I'm not sure if its the music, the fresh air, the ability to let your mind completely wander.... but I have thought up more plot twists and character arcs while driving than anything else.

My friend Kristin Halbrook is a writer and named her blog "Long Distance Drive" for that exact same reason.

If your blog was named after the place where you did YOUR thinking, what would it be called?