Catherine Ryan Hyde's Blog, page 34

Creating a new site

So some of these links are dead now, because the blogs have been deleted. And none of these old links will work when I go live with the new site. So, if you're looking for something, please just go to www.catherineryanhyde.com and look for it, on the blog for example. If it's gone it's because it was a contest or some other time-sensitive post that's no longer relevant.

Fro now on all the links I leave will be--and stay--active.

Thanks,
Catherine

A Pep Talk for Writers (three, actually!)

Are you a writer? Are the critics getting you down (everything from your best friend to your critique group to that damn reviewer at Time Magazine)?

Check out:

www.catherineryanhyde.com then "Blog" then "For Writers"

Advance Reader's Copy Giveaway

I'm holding another "comment contest" on my blog for the third of four advance reader's copies of my Fall 2010 novel Jumpstart the World. It's a young adult novel about transgender.

To find out more, just go to:

www.catherineryanhyde.com/catherinery...

New video excerpt...

...this time a brief reading from my novel When I Found You (Transworld UK, 2009). It hasn't been released in the US. But my US readers can get it easily enough, as I explain in the blog.

Just go to www.catherineyanhyde.com and click on Blog. You'll see today's entry, Video Excerpt of When I Found You.

Let me know what you think!

Thanks,
Catherine

Advance Reader's Copy Giveaway

I'm giving away an advance reader's copy of my brand new YA novel Jumpstart the World. It's due out in October from Knopf, but you can get a copy now. It's easy. Just go out to my website, and leave a comment on the book giveaway blog. Just tell me why it sounds like something you'd like to read.

Just go to www.catherineryanhyde.com/catherinery...

If your comment is my favorite, you win the ARC. If not, I'll be giving away three more between now and Fall. So stay tuned.

What's Next, the U.K. Version

I know this is hard on my U.S. readers. I wish I didn’t have to divide books and readers into countries. But, for those of you who don’t know, the selection of my novel Love in the Present Tense for the Richard and Judy Book Club (if you’re in the U.S, think Oprah Book Club with a British accent) changed my U.K. career significantly. As a result, I’m able to market books directly to my British publisher, even as I’m still in the process of finding a new adult publisher here in the U.S.

So, if you’re one of my U.K. readers, good news.

I have just signed a contract for three new novels (over the next three years) with Transworld Publishers.

It’s time to tell you a little about the first of those three.

It’s called Second Hand Heart, and it’s the story of an emotionally charged relationship between a man who just lost his beloved wife in a car crash and the young woman who receives her donor heart. It delves into that mystery of “cellular memory,” the apparent explanation behind the curious phenomenon of transplant recipients experiencing trace memories of their donors. And it’s tentatively scheduled for fall 2010 release.

If you’re one of my U.S. readers, two small consolations: One, I’ll do a giveaway when it comes out, the way I did with When I Found You. Two, you can always buy a book from the U.K. It just costs a lot more to ship it, for which I apologize.

At some point I’ll likely match these same adult novels (adult as opposed to YA, not adult as in...well, you know what I mean) with a U.S. publisher. And of course you’ll hear about it in this blog first.

So...wait for it...please stay tuned

Thanks,
Catherine

The Year of my Miraculous Reappearance video excerpt

At the end of my last blog, I mentioned that I’d soon be coming out with a new video excerpt for my YA novel The Year of my Miraculous Reappearance. Unlike the terrific new video for Love in the Present Tense, this is one of mine, with my voice (as always) over a video created by me.

I would have had it ready sooner, but there’s the issue of the novels. Writing them, I mean. It’s time-consuming, and I insist on putting it first in the pecking order of everything.

But now I’ve just posted it to my website, and I hope you’ll take a look:

http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/cath...

As promised, I’ll announce the ten winners of the paperbacks in the first week of December. Which is this week. So check my website blog soon.

Many thanks,
Catherine

Book giveaway

I'm doing another book giveaway, this time with a bit of a twist: I'm offering 20 copies of the new paperback of "The Year of my Miraculous Reappearance." To 10 people. Right. Two books each. One for you. One to give away. To learn more, check out:


http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/cath...

Love in the Present Tense video excerpt

A few months ago I posted a blog on MySpace offering free copies of Becoming Chloe to anyone with an idea for how to spread the word about the book. That’s how I first met David Alonzo of Wide Angle Studios. And I’m sure glad I did.

He didn’t even put himself in the running for a book. Just mentioned the idea that a book trailer video might work well. A good book trailer is helpful, of course. But I had to be honest with David and tell him that right at the moment I was looking for promotion ideas on a very small budget.

Every now and then, someone surprises me by Paying It Forward to me. Not often, but it’s been known to happen. Next thing I knew, David was offering his time and talent to create a video project, because, he said, he enjoyed my work, connected with it, and felt inspired to help out. How’s that for a nice guy?

I sent him a couple of books, and now there’s a video excerpt, narrated by me, for my novel Love in the Present Tense. David did a great job capturing the feel of the scene, and boy, when it’s a pro at work you can really see the difference.

Though I want to mention that the three videos I’ve made (so far) myself (Becoming Chloe, The Day I Killed James and Chasing Windmills) also would not exist without David Alonzo and Wide Angle studios. Because it was his great idea about book trailers, and his willingness to share it with me, that got the whole video excerpt project off the ground to begin with. He also viewed the rough films and gave me some great feedback as I was feeling my way through this new world.

To view the Love in the Present Tense video, just go to:

http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/cath...

or:

http://www.youtube.com/user/cryanhyde

There’s a link to Wide Angle Studios, and I hope you’ll look into his video production services. It’s always nice to Pay It Forward to people who Pay It Forward themselves.

Thanks,
Catherine

New Releases

August and September were very good months for me.

In August, my Young Adult novel Diary of a Witness was released from Knopf, and enjoyed lovely reviews. You can read much more at:

http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/cath...

Then in September, Transworld UK released my new adult novel When I Found You, which has also been well-received so far. Check out:

http://www.catherineryanhyde.com/cath...

Right behind each of these books is another new title for 2010, so I'll keep this blog up-to-date as I go.

Thanks for following my blog.
-Catherine