Kate Kaynak's Blog

Hi folks,

I'm back from Balticon and juggling kids, work, the other work, cat-that-needs-to-go-to-the-vet, and all the other aspects of daily life.

But I wanted to put in a few words about conventions. Cons are so much fun, a place to let our inner nerds out to play without worrying that the real world will chuck dodgeballs at our heads. I sat in the Green Room for an hour in a lively, multi-person discussion of the continuity issues among the various Star Trek franchises... and it was AWESOME!

I also got to talk about my books--and about all of Spencer Hill's stuff--for hours with people who love that kind of stuff. It's a wonderful place to network, promote, and also have a lot of fun--all as part of being an author.

So, my advice to you is, if you write spec-fic (that's "speculative fiction," i.e., sci-fi, fantasy, alternative history, dystopian, horror, paranormal, etc.), then find a local con and try it out. Some are more tame than others, and even if the weirdness coefficient exceeds your normal tolerances, you can always use it as inspiration for interesting characters. You don't have to be weird to attend, just okay with being weird-adjacent.

And if "local" for you is the Boston area, come to our launch party for Kelly Hashway's Touch of Death at Arisia in January 2013--we're going to have a zombie prom, and we're asking you to be our bait--um, date.

Grab it! Share it! Angelina's Secret will be all over the web next month!

Hi folks,

Aspiring writers and published authors out there--quick question: how did you find your beta readers and/or crit groups? I know a new author who is looking for some feedback for a YA PNR.

In fact, let's make that a thing. If *you* are looking for a crit partner or beta reader, please send me a message through the Ganzfield contact form: http://www.site.ganzfield.com/Contact.html

Include your genre, your contact info (just an email is fine), and where you are in your writing career, e.g. "unpublished with completed YA paranormal manuscript." If I have someone who is in a similar position, I'll send you each other's contact info and you can trade sample chapters or something, just to see if you are a good match.

And that's how I became the Writing Matchmaker!


Disclaimer: I'm making no promises here, just trying to help writers find other writers who can help them improve their craft. Don't exchange home addresses or other personal info up front--writers are crazy, or at least weird, and you might not know how weird/crazy at first, but then they show up at your house dressed like the character in your book, and...well, that probably wouldn't end well. I'll also eventually stop doing this, but this specific offer is good through June 30, 2012.

Hi folks,

I'm emerging from the editing cave long enough to let everyone know that Trish Wooldridge and I will be conducting a full-day writing workshop at Annie's Book Stop in Worchester, MA on August 11th.

Details: http://anniesbookstopworcester.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/286/

My last post was about the *other* Jennifer's blog posts about Fifty Shades of Grey, and now Texas TV is suggesting *our* Jennifer's book to people who liked Fifty Shades!

Wow. That's like a mobius strip in my brain. Anyway, check out those Texans with good taste in books:


http://www.wfaa.com/good-morning-texas/What-to-Read-Next-If-You-Liked--149830085.html

FYI: Jennifer L. Armentrout is not Jennifer Armintrout.

Two separate people.

Two separate authors.

Two separate blogs, only one of which is making comments about 50 Shades of Grey that are getting people into various forms of tizzy (http://jenniferarmintrout.blogspot.com/2012/04/break-in-50-shades-recapping-to-clarify.html).

 I mention this because our JLA is getting some heat from the 50 Shades thing (http://jenniferarmentrout.blogspot.com/2012/04/goodreads-and-posting.html). Some folks on Goodreads have been building up a campaign to get people to remove JLA's books from their TBR lists in response to the 50 Shades thing.

Basically, we just want our Jennifer left out of it, okay?

So, please spread the word: the Jennifer L. Armentrout-with-an-e who wrote the Covenant Books, the Lux Novels, and possibly another five book series over the weekend isn't the one shredding 50 Shades.

This has been a PSA from SHP.

Oh, wait until you get a load of this new book, its gorgeous cover, and the haunting book trailer!






Breaking Glass by Lisa Amowitz
On the night seventeen-year-old Jeremy Glass winds up in the hospital with a broken leg and a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit, his secret crush, Susannah, disappears. When he begins receiving messages from her from beyond the grave, he's not sure whether they're real or if he's losing his grip on reality. Clue by clue, he gets closer to unraveling the mystery, and soon realizes he must discover the truth or become the next victim himself.
Title: Breaking GlassAuthor: Lisa AmowitzPublisher: Spencer Hill Press (www.SpencerHillPress.com)ISBN: 978-1-937053-38-3Release Date: July 9, 2013
Formats: Paper, e-bookGenre: Young Adult paranormal mystery
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As always, if you'd like to be added to the ARC list for this book, please use the review form at the Spencer Hill website (http://www.site.spencerhillpress.com/Reviewers.html). 

Warning: this will make you laugh out loud, and it contains a few words you probably don't want playing at work (unless you work at SHP) or in front of small children.



Thanks to Rich for the link.

No, it's not a cage match to the death--that's next week. This is a jacket copy contest--the write-up on the back cover that makes a book browser into a book buyer.

Sort of like this, but with up to 248 more words. And the winner will get a professional red-pen mauling partial critique from yours truly.

This is over at J.L. Spelbring's blog: http://jlspelbring.blogspot.com/2012/04/jacket-copy-contest.html
and it's open through April 14th.

Oh, and you'll want to follow that blog, so that, after her book comes out, you can sound all hipster-pretentious when you say, "I was reading her blog before she was famous."

Taking the high road isn't as much fun as Option D.
R********,
Yesterday, I saw your request for a copy of Pure on Share Term Papers... and so did Jennifer Armentrout. Here's the deal--if people don't buy our books (rather than taking them without paying for them), we won't be able to keep putting them out. Spencer Hill is a small press; we don't have fancy New York offices or big print runs. What we do have is a mission to build the careers of talented new authors--and the money we make from the sale of Jennifer's her books goes into publishing her current and future books, as well as those of some amazing new authors whose books I bet you'll love.
But if we don't make money, we can't keep doing that.

So, I have a request--if you want to read our books, please buy them. The e-book version of Pure is only $5.99 at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.