Showing posts with label YA authors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YA authors. Show all posts

#YAIndieCarnival: New year, new format for this awesome YA club

11.1.13

It's a new year and a new format for YA Indie Author Club . We'll be rotating our weekly posts in order to spice it up at bit for our members/followers. With our new setup, we'll alternate biweekly between our Indie Author Series and our Indie Author Spotlight.
With the biweekly Indie Author Series, we'll continue our current mission where we write topics geared toward helping other indie authors. In the spirit of paying it forward, we'll make a special effort to share/promote people, sites, software, etc. that make our jobs a little easier. Whenever possible, we'll provide coupon or referral codes for discounted services from the people we depend on to help us with our writing, editing, book covers, marketing, etc.
With the Indie Author Spotlight, we'll be interviewing a new indie author every other week. You'll want to visit the YA Indie Author Club Sponsor's sites in order to participate in any potential giveaways.
Below, you'll find the tentative schedule for 2013. We're looking forward to your visits, comments, and support.

2013 Topics
January
1/4/1 3 - Resolutions
1/11/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Introduction To The New Indie Author Series
1/18/1 3 - Spotlight: Laura A. H. Elliott
1/25/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Kindle/Amazon (All In or Diversify)
February
2/1/1 3 - Spotlight: Bryna Butler
2/8/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Nook/Barnes & Noble (What's B&N Done For You Lately)
2/15/1 3 - Spotlight: Suzy Turner
2/22/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Smashwords/All Other E-book Sites (Are They Worth It)
March
3/1/1 3 - Spotlight: T. R. Graves
3/8/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Author Page (Basics and Bonuses)
3/15/1 3 - Spotlight: Rachel Coles
3/22/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Goodreads (What's Good & What's Not)
3/29/1 3 - Spotlight: K. C. Blake
April
4/5/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Formatting (Challenges & Achievements)
4/12/1 3 - Spotlight: Melissa Pearl
4/19/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Editing (Testimonials & Warnings)
4/26/1 3 - Spotlight: Terah Edun
May
5/3/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Keywords & Tags (Making them Work)
5/10/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
5/17/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Categorizing Your Book (Finding Your Audience)
5/24/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
5/31/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Book Length (How Many Pages)
June
6/7/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
6/14/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Pricing (How To Decide)
6/21/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
6/28/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Distribution Lists (Books/Blogs/Emails)
July
7/5/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
7/12/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Social Media (What Works)
7/19/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
7/26/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Blogging (Do's & Don'ts)
August
8/2/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
8/9/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Giveaways (Tricks and Techniques) + A Massive Indie Author Giveaway In Honor Of The Topic
8/16/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
8/23/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Facebook (Family Page or Fan Page)
8/30/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
September
9/6/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Twitter (Keep It Simple OR Get As Many Followers As You Can)
9/13/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
9/20/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Pinterest (Getting It To Work For You)
9/27/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
October
10/4/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Giving Books Away (To Free Or Not To Free)
10/11/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
10/18/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Reviews (Getting Them & What To Do With Them)
10/25/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
November
11/1/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Writing (Point Of View & Tense)
11/8/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
11/15/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Querying (Pitch & Summary)
11/22/1 3 - Spotlight Or Book Tour: (Looking for Author/Release/Book Tour)
11/29/1 3 - OFF
December
12/6/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Sagas (Series Or Not)
12/13/1 3 - Indie Author Series: Shelfari (Character Description Benefits)
12/20/1 3 - OFF
12/27/1 3 - OFF


In the meantime, check out my fellow carnis below. Oh, and don't forget to download your FREE copy of Daisy Madigan's Paradise here or your FREE copy of Raven here.
1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. Heather Self

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#YAIndieCarnival: I'm thankful for you

23.11.12

Hubby and me. A perfect fit :)
This week we're giving thanks and I have much to be thankful for. A hugely supportive husband without whom I wouldn't be able to do what I love: write full time. He is a wonderful man who can do just about anything! The only thing that he isn't terribly good at is the one thing that I am good at it and that's writing! Clearly, we're a perfect fit :)
But I'm not just thankful for him, I'm thankful for you too. You guys and gals who are always there when I need you, when I'm trying to write and perhaps feeling down, I know I can turn to you and someone will be there to give me the encouragement I need. You, my social networking buddies, my blog readers, my author pals... everyone I've met online... you are a totally awesome bunch and I am so incredibly grateful to you. So, THANK YOU!
I've had a wonderful year - I've published two more books (The Lost Soul, Book #3 in The Raven Saga and The Ghost of Josiah Grimshaw, Book #1 in The Morgan Sisters series) and received such encouragement and positivity from my readers that I really do feel thankful for so much. I'm incredibly grateful to all those AWESOME people that have bought my books over the past couple of years and to those that have become fans. I love hearing from you and hope that you will continue to enjoy my work over the coming years. 
Happy Thanksgiving EVERYBODY!!
For more messages of thanks, visit my awesome fellow carnis below...

1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. Heather Self




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YA Indie Carnival: To trailer or not to trailer

3.2.12

I'm a HUGE fan of the book trailer. In fact I'm so obsessed with them that last year I created two separate sites for my two loves: YA and Chick Lit. Both sites are exclusively for the promotion of book trailers. The Chick Lit Trailer Park isn't quite so popular as the YA Trailer Park but both have some fabulous trailers on them, and more and more go up regularly. Have a look for yourself:
YA Trailer Park
Chick Lit Trailer Park
So why do I love book trailers so much? Because they help to convey the feel of the book. The essence that doesn't usually come across in a simple description or the blurb that you find on the back of a book (or on screen). You can be so much more creative visually, which is so important for those that have difficulty to visualise what a book is all about (if that makes sense!?).
You can also use music to create an atmosphere. The kind of atmosphere you hope will come across to your readers as they begin to read.
Check out the book trailers I created for my first two books, Raven and December Moon. I think I managed to create a certain 'something' for both of them.... what do you think?



If you have either a Chick Lit (it can be any genre as long as its aimed at female readers), or a YA book trailer and you'd like to submit them to either (or both) of the sites, just follow the instructions on the sites.

Click here for more Indie News:


Check out more about trailers by my fellow Carnis:
1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. Heather Self
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YA Indie Carnival: What reading teaches me as a writer

20.1.12

I think reading is crucial for anyone wanting to write for a living. We can all learn from other writers. For example, I know I've mentioned it before, but last year I had a fellow author read my first book, Raven. She picked up a few things that could do with improving and also made a few suggestions as to how I could make the story better as a whole. I made notes and made some alterations.
And then, a few months later, she asked me to return the favour and so I read her book. I have to say I was totally blown away. Suddenly, all those things she had talked about seemed to make perfect sense. I could see exactly what she had been trying to tell me (sometimes it's difficult to put these things into words). I felt like I'd had the perfect English Literature lesson. It wouldn't have made as much sense to me if I'd not read her book and seen where I was going wrong and where she was going so right. Her writing is simply amazing, her descriptive passages awe inspiring and her imagination wonderful. But then I believe that all us writers have wonderful imaginations. We wouldn't be writers if not.
Over the past few months I've read quite a lot of books, mainly ebooks by self published authors and I do believe that I've learned so much from each and every one of them. It has also strengthened my belief in myself as a writer and that is incredibly important.
Oh, and if you're wondering, the name of that author is Michelle Isenhoff and the book, The Quill Pen.

Click here for more Indie News:


Check out my fellow Carnis:
1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. Heather Self
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YA Writers' Chat

19.10.11

YA Literature, Why it Sells and Where it is Going  
YA author Claude Nougat
YA literature made headlines in 2011 when the children's books critic for the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Gurdon, accused some YA novels for being too violent and inappropriate for a teen market. More recently an article in the New York Times suggested that modern YA literature had lost the freshness of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland and moved into dark areas. The Harry Potter series was mentioned, referring in particular to Rowling’s “demonders” and her acknowledging that  inspiration for them came from a bout of depression she had suffered.
On the other side of the barrier, the Historian Amanda Foreman, author of  “Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire,” told a reporter from the NYT (Pamela Paul, August 6, 2010) : “good YA is like good television. There’s a freshness there; it’s engaging. YA authors aren’t writing about middle-aged anomie or disappointed people.”  
I met with YA author Claude Nougat to discuss this, and we both felt that the resulting chat could be of interest to both YA readers and authors. The conversation is both here and on her blog (http://claudenougat.blogspot.com/)  
YA author Suzy Turner
I recently released DECEMBER MOON, the second book in the Raven Saga, and Claude has come out with RECLAIM THE PRESENT, the second book in her Fear of the Past Trilogy (which, incidentally is a fantastic read!).
Our points of view, as you will see, are somewhat divergent because, while we are both into YA literature, we come to it from widely different angles. I am very much into a fantasy world filled with vampires, changelings and witches, whereas Claude is into a paranormal world filled with historical characters - the forebears of her protagonist. The link to her book can be found above, while my book is about a young girl who discovers she possesses a unique ability inherited from her unusual family, links to which you'll find all over my blog!

Claude: What’s your take in this controversy? Do you think YA authors have moved into forbidden territory for young adults – too dark, too forbidding, too violent? I don’t think everyone has, I know I haven’t but then I’m not into Peter Pan/Alice-in-Wonderland stuff either!
Suzy:  Not at all. if you look back to the kinds of stories that were read to us as children, you'll see that they were just as dark and forbidding if not more so than in many of today's YA books. The Grimms Brothers' stories, for instance, were full of dark, terrifying tales!
Claude: What I love about YA literature is that it is such a flexible genre: it contains everything from fantasy to paranormal - like both our books - to all sorts of other things, like dystopian fantasy, science fiction, thrillers. Just about anything goes, all genres are mixed and can even be found within a single novel - like mine which combines paranormal with historical elements. Mind you, I spent a lot of time doing historical research and travelling to the places I describe to ensure accuracy! Do you see that as an attractive feature of YA literature? Is that why - or at least one of the reasons - you wrote your book?  
Suzy: Absolutely and I think this is one of the reasons why it is such a popular genre not only for young adults but for older ones too. One of the reasons I wrote my book is because I felt the place in which it was set, had a story to tell. Powell River in British Columbia, Canada, bewitched me into creating a tale of fantasy!  
Both of our books have one thing in common though and that is the "search for self" element within. Both of our main characters are trying to discover who they really are, albeit in very different guises.
Claude: Yes, that’s what I liked about the YA classification: it gave me a chance to explore in depth the "search for self". When you are young, there's so much to learn about the world around you, but particularly about yourself. Tony, my protagonist – a computer whiz kid - is learning about himself in a very peculiar way: through his forebears who come back to him as ghosts, explaining to him what their life was like, what work and love meant to them. Normally that is something you learn from your parents and friends - I thought this was a different way of exploring one's roots. Going deep into the past. Your protagonist learns about herself by travelling abroad, from London to British Columbia and meeting family she didn’t even know she had! Isn’t that right?
Suzy: Yes, Lilly actually grew up in London stuck in the confines of a tiny apartment, not allowed to go out and have friends, other than the one she secretly had at school. When her parents disappear and she moves to Canada, it is there that she begins to learn more about herself - through the family she never knew existed. In the beginning, she is so naive because she never had the chance to grow.
Claude: Actually, searching for self is something that concerns us as adults too! We never stop discovering things about ourselves and trying to adjust to new challenges in our lives…Which I suspect is why YA literature has an enduring appeal to all ages! My Fear of the Past Trilogy focuses on the fundamental question: how much of ourselves do we inherit from our family and how much can we call our own? Are we born a virgin slate or do we inherit our character traits from our forebears? Bottom line, is there such a thing as free will?  Is this something your books are also concerned with, and in what way?
Suzy: That is an interesting question, Claude, and one that is quite difficult to answer. In the beginning, Lilly is quite obviously born a 'virgin slate' until she discovers the truth about herself and then her true self - and her inherited ability - comes out. She really does discover that she is a different person after that moment. The same can be said of December Moon (Lilly's best friend).
Claude: Overcoming the inheritance from the family can be hard, particularly if it’s a heavy one – like my protagonist who has a family extending back 900 years! But it can happen to anybody who meets the ghosts of his forebears the way he does!  This is why the title of the first book in the trilogy suggests the answer: Forget the Past! Go ahead and live freely, without harking back to it! In the second book, Reclaim the Present, the protagonist has another living-in-the past experience that teaches him that whatever he has inherited from his forebears – even if he’s been dealt the same cards in terms of inherited looks and character – it is up to him how he plays his cards! His life is in his own hands! To sum up, in my opinion, what distinguishes YA novels from other genres are coming-of-age experiences.  
Suzy: Absolutely, but there are also those YA books filled with violence in them, the kind that shocked Ms. Gurdon and probably turns off quite a few parents.  
Claude: Yes, but this is to be expected in a search-for-self kind of literature: not all kids are born with a golden spoon in their mouth! How do you feel about the role of violence in YA novels? Do you think violence should be avoided? Or is there a way to "integrate" it without making it "inappropriate" for teens?
Suzy: I don't like to read violence just for the sake of it. If it is necessary to push the story forward then that's fine or if the main character needs to learn something through violent elements then okay. I just hate violence for violence sake. Raven, for instance, has little violence. There is talk of death but no gruesome scenes. Its sequel, December Moon, however, focusses more on the vampire characters in the story, some of which are evil, and the only way for them to be stopped is to be killed... so it does contain some pretty frightening scenes!
Claude: Don’t scare me! Say, like what? Can you give me an idea of what happens in December Moon? I remember that was the name of your protagonist’s best friend back in London, before she moved out to British Columbia…
Suzy: lol Yes that's right, December is Lilly's best friend and she discovers a family secret too... one which takes her to America, away from her not-so-nice aunt, and back with her mother, not far away from Lilly. That's all I can give away though!
Claude: Thanks Suzy, I enjoyed the chat! Just to sum up: YA literature’s success seems to be due to its versatility. It’s not stuck in a genre, it’s open to all of them! And that means it’s open to innovation and new themes. And it’s focused on themes that are of continuing interest and relevance to all age groups, not just Young Adults! Those two reasons largely explain its enduring success. Would you say that’s right?
Suzy: Oh yes absolutely, Claude. Its versatility is one of the defining facts about YA literature that makes it so appealing, not just to read but to write too. I love writing in this genre and I hope to continue to do so for years to come! Thanks for chatting with me Claude... it’s been a blast!


What's your take on the YA genre? Do you think there's too much violence in today's teen books? Feel free to leave a comment below!


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