My new psychological thriller, Black Flowers, White Lies, is now out in the world! The official book birthday is October 4th, but the novel has made its arrival a little early. 

As my writer friends know, critique groups are a key part of the creative process. One thing I'm celebrating this week is my fellow critiquers, and that my critique partner, C. Lee McKenzie, included this lovely write-up in her newsletter. 

"Yvonne and I have shared writing since the 90s. We're in a group called The Garret, and it has some excellent writers with keen eyes that let nothing slip by. We came together because of a wonderful person named L. K. Madigan. Her first book, Flash Burnout, won the Morris Award. Unfortunately, she died far too young and way before her writing career could take off. We've kept the group together because she chose well. We're all compatible. We all strive to do our best and learn to be better. Yvonne is certainly one who does better with everything she writes. Pandemic won the Crystal Kite Award last year, and you're going to love this newest one."

Thank you so much, Lee!

​In other book news, BuzzFeed included Black Flowers, White Lies on their YA "must read" fall list, saying "This suspenseful psychological thriller definitely won't disappoint." Hooray!

What books are on your fall reading list?

Celebrate the Small Things is a blog hop hosted by Lexa Cain, L.G. Keltner, and Tonja Drecker. ​You can link to other participating bloggers here:
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September is National Preparedness Month to encourage people to be prepared for emergency situations.  Sky Pony Press recently featured my guest post on their blog,  Disaster Preparedness: 5 Lessons Learned. Leave me a comment there! Do you feel prepared for a hurricane or an even larger disaster? 

I'm celebrating the small things this week with some favorite quotes.

I'm always collecting inspirational quotes, so feel free to share your favorites in the comments. 

Celebrate the Small Things is a blog hop hosted by Lexa Cain, L.G. Keltner, and Tonja Drecker. 

Planning for a book promotion can feel like an overwhelming task. What can you do to prepare and when? Since my second young adult novel, Black Flowers, White Lies, is being published October 4th, I’ve been reviewing the to-do lists I made when Pandemic launched. I thought I'd share some of my book marketing ideas, so here's part one. Obviously, experiences can vary by publisher or if you are self-publishing, but feel free to use these tips as a general guide.

1. If you are being traditionally published, many of your author deadlines will key off the publication date and your publishing house’s internal schedule. Confirm your pub date and ask about what deadlines (besides editorial) you need to be aware of. When is your author photo due? Publishers may have a standard “Author Questionnaire” they use to help with publicity. When is that due? Leave time to complete this thoroughly.
2. Author photos: My advice is to make sure you *really* like the way this comes out. If you have it done professionally, leave time for a reshoot. I hated my first round of author photos. A few weeks later, we tried again outside with better results. These two articles offer more information: Your Author Photo: How to Project the Right Image and Demonstrate Your Author Brand with a Professional Headshot.
3. Write a biography that you can use on your jacket cover and online. Some people have different versions--short, long, funny, serious.
4. Consider setting up a Goodreads Author account. Even if you decide not to use Goodreads, having an author account provides a presence for readers and allows you to run giveaways if you choose. Include your bio and your author photo. If you blog, you can link your blog so that the posts automatically show up on your Goodreads Author page, which is another way to reach readers. Library Thing and Booklikes are also options to reach book-loving folks (although I haven't managed to keep up with my presence there).
5. Set up an Amazon Author page. This is another place to include your bio and author photo. You can also link your blog and Twitter account so that recent blog posts and Tweets show up on your author page.
6. If you are active on social media, update your bio and author photo on the various platforms. The bios don’t have to be identical (given word length restrictions, etc) but should be consistent enough that readers recognize you. You can mention your book as “Available (date) from (publisher).” Just remember to go back and change it when the book launches!
7. Most email programs allow you to create a signature line--this is another place to mention your book and the publication date.
8. If you are not active on social media, now is a good time to experiment with various platforms and build an audience on the platforms you enjoy. Try to use a consistent user name (preferably your author name) across different types of social media. 
9. Do you have a website? This is a big topic in and of itself, so I’ll refer you to Jane Friedman’s article, The Basic Components of an Author Website, to start. I use my author name as my URL, YvonneVentresca.com. You can also consider buying the domain name for your book's title. For Pandemic, I have a basic page that connects back to my main site.
10. Decide if you would like to do an online book tour, and if you will coordinate it yourself or hire someone to do it for you. Jen Halligan PR set up my BFWL blog tour, which is going on now and features a giveaway--a $25 Amazon gift card, a $25 Sephora gift card, a signed copy of BFWL, and the chalkboard I used to display the prizes. (Scroll down on the blog tour page to access the giveaway.) 

Those are the first ten tips for marketing your book. There are more to come!

Stephanie Faris is celebrating the release of two new novels, and today she's sharing some of the writing wisdom she's gained through the years. To celebrate her books, she's also offering a giveaway. (See below.)

“Youth is wasted on the young.” I heard that saying for the first time in It’s a Wonderful Life. I was young at the time and even then, I thought how nice it would be to have all the wisdom old people have as a teen. In your younger years, you have your entire life ahead of you. You make choices that will determine the rest of your life without the experience you need to make those decisions.

When I decided to write my first novel, I was in my early 20s. I’d been through journalism school, interned at a TV station, and worked a year or two in public relations. I knew fully well that I lacked the experience necessary to write a best-selling novel, but I still had those stars in my eyes. What if I was one of those wunderkind stories that make big news?

I wrote three young adult novels before I even began researching what to do with a book once you’ve written it. I knew you sent it to a publisher, but what publisher? How did you know the address and editor name? There was no such thing as Google back then, so I hit the “how to write” section of my bookstore and started reading everything I could find.

I’ll never forget reading the words that there was not currently a market for young adult novels. I read up on book packagers, which was the only real option for young adult novelists in the 90s. I had no idea so many popular young adult series were ghostwritten, but I dove in. I auditioned to write for Sweet Valley High TWICE and failed both times. I quickly decided I simply couldn’t write young adult, since the market was pretty much nonexistent in the 90s.

So I gravitated toward romance. And that was where I made another big mistake. I wrote my first manuscript and, sure it was brilliant, I put it in the mail to an editor. Luckily she simply sent a form rejection--one of many I’d received over the years. It was only THEN that I decided to seek out a writer’s group. And then the real learning began.

If I could speak to my twenty-something self, I would tell her to read and research before writing that first manuscript. No writing is wasted--it’s all practice that helps us get better. I just would have gotten much further, much faster, had I known more about the market before I wrote “The End” on my first book.
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If you’re a pre-published author, that would be my biggest advice. Read, meet other writers, and grow. Consider your career and build your support system before you write 100,000 words, only to realize you’ve done all of that work for nothing. But I can say that even knowing that now, I don’t regret all of that hard work, especially since Harry Potter came along and changed everything. I’ve now come full circle. I started my career writing for young readers and that’s what I’m doing now. And I’ve loved every minute of it!

When Piper Morgan has to move to a new town, she is sad to leave behind her friends, but excited for a new adventure. She is determined to have fun, be brave and find new friends.
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In Piper Morgan Joins the Circus, Piper learns her mom’s new job will be with the Big Top Circus. She can’t wait to learn all about life under the big top, see all the cool animals, and meet the Little Explorers, the other kids who travel with the show. She’s even more excited to learn that she gets to be a part of the Little Explorers and help them end each show with a routine to get the audience on their feet and dancing along!

In Piper Morgan in Charge, Piper’s mom takes a job in the local elementary school principal’s office. Piper is excited for a new school and new friends--and is thrilled when she is made an “office helper.” But there is one girl who seems determined to prove she is a better helper--and she just so happens to be the principal’s daughter. Can Piper figure out how to handle being the new girl in town once more?

​Stephanie Faris knew she wanted to be an author from a very young age. In fact, her mother often told her to stop reading so much and go outside and play with the other kids. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science in broadcast journalism, she somehow found herself working in information technology. But she never stopped writing.
 
Stephanie is the Simon & Schuster author of 30 Days of No Gossip and 25 Roses. When she isn’t crafting fiction, she writes for a variety of online websites on the topics of business, technology, and her favorite subject of all--fashion. She lives in Nashville with her husband, a sales executive. ​
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LINKS: Website |  Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon
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Congratulations to author Julie Flanders on her book, Baby Moo's Great Escape, which comes out tomorrow from Native Ink Press.

About the book:
Baby Moo has a dream. He wants to travel the world and sing on the stage of the Sydney Opera House! While he loves his home at Sunrise Sanctuary, it hasn’t been the same since a piglet named Nathan showed up and stole all the attention away from Moo. Jealous of the new baby, Moo decides now is the time to make his escape and pursue his dream.
But the world outside the sanctuary gates is not quite the fun and exciting place Moo imagined, and he quickly finds himself in big trouble. Moo's friends Missy the dog and Ruthie the cat rush to help him, and land in some trouble of their own.
Lost and frightened, Moo and his friends must rely on each other to find their way back home. Will they ever see Sunrise again?

Visit Julie Flanders' web page, or add Baby Moo to Goodreads. Julie will donate $1 to Sunrise Sanctuary, home to Baby Moo and numerous other rescued animals, for each copy sold in September. 

A few small things to celebrate this week:

My 13-year old Westie received a clean bill of health from the vet. Rocky's in pretty good shape for his age!

My publisher, Sky Pony Press, designed bookmarks for Black Flowers, White Lies. They came back from the printer and I'm thrilled with how they came out! Email me with your address if you'd like one. 

Let's celebrate blog hops like this one, hosted by Lexa Cain, L.G. Keltner, and Tonja Drecker. What little things have made you happy this week?