I was thinking about this topic over the weekend, whilst geeking out at Pi-Con in a most pleasant manner. Basically, we writers would love for everyone to connect to our work in the same soul-deep way we do. However, realistically, that just won't happen; even a series that people swoon over like Twilight has a huge number of bashers and haters.
I feel like authors who push their work too hard are kinda like this dog:
The moral of this little video is that you're not going to get the reaction you desire from everyone you meet, and that's okay. Because there are a lot of people out there who WILL throw the stick for you.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favor
Books adapted as movies can be a mixed bag. Some breathe new life into an already wonderful story. Many many many disappoint fans of the book, especially in recent MG/YA adaptations. I'd name names, but that might hurt might chances of getting movie deals with the production houses that put those duds out.
Actually, that might not be a bad thing--sort of a self-selection for awesomeness.
So, when I first heard The Hunger Games
was becoming a movie, I started seeing scenes in my head. Now the first trailer has come out, and the energy of it seems like a wonderfully faithful to the book... except that Katniss wouldn't make all that NOISE walking through the forest! Hello? Foley people? Take it down a few notches! How would she ever frikkin' HUNT? That's the amount of noise an actor might make walking through nature, not someone who has to hunt to live--someone who's been doing it for years!
*sigh*
Actually, that might not be a bad thing--sort of a self-selection for awesomeness.
So, when I first heard The Hunger Games
was becoming a movie, I started seeing scenes in my head. Now the first trailer has come out, and the energy of it seems like a wonderfully faithful to the book... except that Katniss wouldn't make all that NOISE walking through the forest! Hello? Foley people? Take it down a few notches! How would she ever frikkin' HUNT? That's the amount of noise an actor might make walking through nature, not someone who has to hunt to live--someone who's been doing it for years!*sigh*
Monday, August 29, 2011
HurriCon!
Pi-Con really is one of my favorite cons. There's such a wonderful sense of nerdly camaraderie! I love talking books, and, with thirteen panels, I really did a bunch of it. I got to hang out with a bunch of Spencer Hill Press people, as well.
As for the hurricane... my husband and kids lost power back home in New Hampshire, but everyone's okay. We just got a bunch of wind and rain here--no real problems or damage. I stayed on an extra day, though, just in case, which seems like a good idea, since my normal driving route would have taken me through Brattleboro, VT:
As for the hurricane... my husband and kids lost power back home in New Hampshire, but everyone's okay. We just got a bunch of wind and rain here--no real problems or damage. I stayed on an extra day, though, just in case, which seems like a good idea, since my normal driving route would have taken me through Brattleboro, VT:
Friday, August 26, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Greetings from the Editing Cave
Sorry for the spotty posting of late--I've been editing. I love blogging and Facebooking (is that a word?) and otherwise staying in touch through the interweb, but it's a huge time-suck when I have a deadline! So, how do you keep a balance?
And if you don't keep a balance, feel free to keep me company over on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Ganzfield/116604475016600
And if you don't keep a balance, feel free to keep me company over on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Ganzfield/116604475016600
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Kiersten White is my Hero
Check out her Rules of YA Genre post, but not somewhere people are going to scowl at you for laughing out loud: http://kierstenwrites.blogspot.com/2011/08/rules-of-genre.html
Awesome Excerpt #1:
Dystopian: Must have a main character with the letter X or Z in their name. If you have no characters with Xs or Zs, you are doing it wrong and you have not written a dystopian.
Awesome Excerpt #2:
Paranormal Romance: Must describe the love interest boy as well-muscled at least once per chapter. Also the words "brooding" "mysterious" and "agony" have to feature prominently. Type of creature that the boy is does not matter, so long as he mysteriously broods in well-muscled agony.
Awesome Excerpt #1:
Dystopian: Must have a main character with the letter X or Z in their name. If you have no characters with Xs or Zs, you are doing it wrong and you have not written a dystopian.
Awesome Excerpt #2:
Paranormal Romance: Must describe the love interest boy as well-muscled at least once per chapter. Also the words "brooding" "mysterious" and "agony" have to feature prominently. Type of creature that the boy is does not matter, so long as he mysteriously broods in well-muscled agony.
Monday, August 22, 2011
ARC Do's and Don'ts
ARCs--Advance Reading Copies--are printed by the publisher several months before the release of the book. We do several things with them that we hope will generate sales, including sending copies to reviewers and book buyers for places like Barnes & Noble and Amazon. We also give a few to other authors we hope will give us a nice blurb.
So, if you'd like to receive ARCs, you need to fall into one of these categories. If you do, we'd love to hear from you. We get a lot of ARC requests at Spencer Hill, and most of them are from people who have a book blog, write for a high school or college paper, or have another official outlet for posting or printing reviews. We also send them to the big reviewers like Kirkus and School Library Journal.
But we've been getting a ton recently from people who just want a free book. To those people, I want to say, "Thank you for your interest. Please BUY a copy when it comes out, so we can stay in business and continue to put out awesome books."
The thing about it is, ARCs cost money to print--more than books in an offset print run. And they cost money to ship. For us to send you a copy, we need to believe that your review will generate enough sales to cover those costs. That's fair, right?
Sooo, if you request an ARC, please:
DO include your name and a link to your platform, whether it's a blog, an ezine, a newspaper, a Facebook page, etc. It's also nice to include your stats like number of followers/readers, but this isn't necessary, since we'll check out your platform before sending anything.
DON'T promise a good review. Be honest. If you don't like the book, we'd be happier if you said nothing at all and passed the book to another reviewer who might like it more. If you do post a negative review, please explain dispassionately what you didn't like, rather than just saying, "It sucked."
DO post or print a review in the requested timeframe; we send ARCs out to generate interest around the time of the book launch. It's nice that you want to review books that have been out for a year, but we ran out of ARCs months ago. We may be able to make an exception and provide copies of the early books in a series if you're reviewing the most recent installment. But please read every ARC you receive and post or print your review in a timely manner.
DON'T sell (or try to sell) the ARC. We're happy if you'd like to keep it or give it away to another reviewer, one of your readers, a friend, or your great aunt Edna. But don't sell it; that's considered a really bad faux pas in the publishing world.
DO build up your platform. We're much more likely to send copies to reviewers with a large number of followers, although we also make sure that the reviewer's tastes are a good fit for the title in question. But size matters--we want to get the word out to a large number of people, so the more readers you have, the better off you'll be.
DON'T forget to send a link or complimentary copy of the paper or magazine to the ARC provider when you publish or post it. We'd love to read your thoughts.
DO let me know in comments if you say "arc" or "A.R.C." when you say the word "ARC" aloud. I'm conducting a poll.
So, if you'd like to receive ARCs, you need to fall into one of these categories. If you do, we'd love to hear from you. We get a lot of ARC requests at Spencer Hill, and most of them are from people who have a book blog, write for a high school or college paper, or have another official outlet for posting or printing reviews. We also send them to the big reviewers like Kirkus and School Library Journal.
But we've been getting a ton recently from people who just want a free book. To those people, I want to say, "Thank you for your interest. Please BUY a copy when it comes out, so we can stay in business and continue to put out awesome books."
The thing about it is, ARCs cost money to print--more than books in an offset print run. And they cost money to ship. For us to send you a copy, we need to believe that your review will generate enough sales to cover those costs. That's fair, right?
Sooo, if you request an ARC, please:
DO include your name and a link to your platform, whether it's a blog, an ezine, a newspaper, a Facebook page, etc. It's also nice to include your stats like number of followers/readers, but this isn't necessary, since we'll check out your platform before sending anything.
DON'T promise a good review. Be honest. If you don't like the book, we'd be happier if you said nothing at all and passed the book to another reviewer who might like it more. If you do post a negative review, please explain dispassionately what you didn't like, rather than just saying, "It sucked."
DO post or print a review in the requested timeframe; we send ARCs out to generate interest around the time of the book launch. It's nice that you want to review books that have been out for a year, but we ran out of ARCs months ago. We may be able to make an exception and provide copies of the early books in a series if you're reviewing the most recent installment. But please read every ARC you receive and post or print your review in a timely manner.
DON'T sell (or try to sell) the ARC. We're happy if you'd like to keep it or give it away to another reviewer, one of your readers, a friend, or your great aunt Edna. But don't sell it; that's considered a really bad faux pas in the publishing world.
DO build up your platform. We're much more likely to send copies to reviewers with a large number of followers, although we also make sure that the reviewer's tastes are a good fit for the title in question. But size matters--we want to get the word out to a large number of people, so the more readers you have, the better off you'll be.
DON'T forget to send a link or complimentary copy of the paper or magazine to the ARC provider when you publish or post it. We'd love to read your thoughts.
DO let me know in comments if you say "arc" or "A.R.C." when you say the word "ARC" aloud. I'm conducting a poll.
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