Gail Gauthier's Blog: Gail Gauthier Reads, page 7

Humor and Mature Characters

Books About YA

Over the years, I've seen books about children's books. It's not something I've made a study off, but have been aware of. I don't know if I've seen this type of thing in relation to adult books, but it may exist.

To be honest, I know about these directories/guides because I'm in a few of them. Well, no, the to-be-honest part is that I know I'm in a few of them because I ego-surf. I only do it every now and then, because who has time for that sort of thing? But the occasional ego surf can turn up some juicy stuff.

Saving the Planet & Stuff Made Two...Count 'em...Two Books

The original edition of Saving the Planet & Stuff was discussed in two of these books about books.

Thematic Guide to Young Adult Literature by Alice Trupe. (2006) Saving the Planet & Stuff was discussed in a chapter on Older People's Impact on Our Lives. STP&S is the story of Michael Racine's summer with Walter Marcello and Nora Blake, contemporaries of his grandparents, so I can see how it ended up in that section of the book.

Humor in Young Adult Literature: A Time to Laugh by Walter Hogan. (2005) STP&S is included in a section on Employers and Landlords. Part of what Michael is doing with Walt and Nora is working for their environmental journal. Hogan says the office politics there are "fierce and often funny."

It's nice to be talked about. These books appear to be out-of-print, so it's nice to have been talked about once.

Now, seriously, how many of you are going to go right out and ego-surf to see if you can find something juicy about yourselves?

A slightly different version of this post appeared at Original Content

"Saving the Planet & Stuff" eBook Free On Kindle For Three Days

I've been writing about this off and on all month at my Original Content blog. Today I'm beginning my celebration of Earth Day, 2016, by offering the eBook edition of Saving the Planet & Stuff free for Kindle users. I'm celebrating for three-days, so the offer extends through Saturday, the 23rd.

This edition includes the original text with a new cover illustration by Eric Bloom, and, in the Bonus Material, the short story Three Weeks with Walt and Nora. It was written prior to the book and never published.

Some Reviewers' Thoughts

"A new slant on ecological fiction." Booklist
"Memorable, hilarious, and featuring a likable, unlikely hero." Kirkus Reviews
"Gauthier incorporates spirited dialogue, wry asides from Michael and droll scenarios" Publishers Weekly

The above reviews refer to the original hardcover edition published by G. P. Putnam's Sons.

And In Addition

In 2008, two years after it went out of print, the original edition of Saving the Planet & Stuff was included in the Book Links article The Text Generation: Fiction That Incorporates Digital Communication.

Last year, nine years after it went out of print, the original edition of Saving the Planet & Stuff was included on a reading list on the Scottish Book Trust's website.

And, of course, Gyldendal Unvervisning (Education) will be using an excerpt from Saving the Planet & Stuff later this year in a new textbook.

So Kindle users, here's your opportunity to add another volume to your e-reader for free. I love doing that, myself.

What Happens At Writers' Group

At writers' group last week we discussed Writing Secret No. 1 Is Keep Your Day Job a recent essay by Gina Barreca. Barreca has written or edited or co-written sixteen books. She's been published in many major publications and received a lot of press. This is some of what she has to say about writing/publishing, annotated by moi:

"About 17 people make enough money from writing to purchase both a coffee and a bagel every day." A bagel with cream cheese is $3.69 at Dunkin' Donuts. I am told that a cup of coffee there is $2.12. Let's say we're talking $5.70 a day. Multiply it by 365 days, and you come up with $2,080. That's real money for a lot of writers.

"I still carry books to sell out of the trunk of my car. If you've ever met me, you know I'm not kidding." I've never done that. I should have. I'm not kidding.

"Bookstores can only afford to keep a limited number of titles on their shelves and, except for classic or best selling authors, they only keep those titles for a few months at a time. What happens to books after that?" You don't want to know. It's like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie.

"Writing and publishing are blood sports." This actually made me feel pretty good. Tough, in fact. I engage in blood sports. How cool is that?

I came home pumped up!

Awards Provide Discoverability, And Here Are Two Award Winners To Discover

Finding readers is difficult for all books. There are so many of them out there, more than there are people to read them. The chances of any individual title being discovered by readers isn't that great. For self-published books, discoverability is even worse. They don't have as much access to reviewers, sales people, booksellers, you name it. What's more, there may be even more of them. So the chances of any individual title collecting a following is even less likely than for traditional books. And for self-published eBooks--worse yet. Those authors are limited in terms of making public appearances at book fairs, festivals, and stores because they have nothing the sponsoring agency/business can sell.

Book Awards And Discoverability

Book awards can help with discoverability by bringing attention to titles. Some awards bring more attention than others. There are all kinds of things that come into play. Some awards may bring prestige but not much in the way of sales. In children's literature, for instance, the state readers' choice awards don't carry the kind of prestige the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz awards do, but I've heard that just being nominated can really generate sales. Public and school libraries buy copies, sometimes multiple copies, to have available for child readers during the voting period. State readers' choice awards may truly be a case in which just being nominated is the honor/benefit. I know I had a book go into a second printing because it was nominated for a state award just at the point when the first printing was nearly gone.

The Writer's Digest Self-Published e-Book Awards

All of which brings me to this year's Writer's Digest Self-Published e-Book Awards. I noticed the spread on this award in the May/June Writer's Digest because I republished Saving the Planet & Stuff as an eBook, and I'm dwelling on STP&S-related material all month long. So, there, I managed to squeeze it into this post. Now I'll move on to this award.

The Writer's Digest Awards are self-nominated and there is a fee, which is not unheard of. Various winners receive a variety of prizes that could include cash, review opportunities, and book marketing consultation. The award is described as "a competition that spotlights today’s self-published works and honors self-published authors." I don't know who the judges are, if there are different judges for each category, or how the books are judged. One interesting thing I noticed with the winners in this eBook division is that all but one of the winners had a paper-and-ink edition in addition to the eBook edition. Which makes me wonder what the criteria is for submitting.

Children's Lit Winners

The two winners we're interested in are:

Children's Picture Books: Nickerbacher, The Funniest Dragon by Terry John Barto with illustrations by Kim Sponaugle. While I find the marketing for this book a little heavy on self-esteem vs. story, I like the basic premise of that story. This is a book about a dragon who wants to be a stand-up comedian. That sounds promising.

Middle-Grade/Young Adult Fiction: Flicker by Melanie Hooyenga. Flicker sounds like another paranormal story. EXCEPT there is also a crime aspect that I find intriguing. Again, that sounds promising.

A Seemingly Unrelated Point, But Not

I'd like to note that both Barto and Hooyenga have professional looking websites, as does illustrator Sponaugle. I feel it's necessary to point that out, because sometimes self-published authors don't. Maybe more than sometimes. Sometimes they have nothing at all or they're limping along with a Facebook page or a blog. Maybe a blog they don't spend much time on.

Why is this related to book awards? Remember, my theory is that the big value of book awards is discoverability for a book and for an author. You get some attention because of the award, people take notice, and what do they find when go looking for you? Nothing. Or they find something that indicates you don't understand professional marketing.

I'm not a big fan of writers creating websites before they've even finished writing a book/story/essay/whatever their genre. But once you're published, it really is a professional necessity. And certainly if you're at the point of submitting your published work for awards, you need to have a website, as the people above do, in case you win.

Just How Long Should A Self-Published Author Keep Promoting An eBook?

The big reason for self-publishing an eBook edition of Saving the Planet & Stuff back in 2013 was the experiment aspect. I knew enough about self-publishing to realize it isn’t a money-making deal for the vast majority of people who get into it. I was interested in what would happen. How would the life of a self-published eBook be different from that of a traditionally published paper-and-ink book?

So Little Time

One of the things I found particularly frustrating about publishing is that there is a very small window for new books to become successful or even to generate sales and attention. It’s not as bad as television, where programs often have just a couple of weeks before they’re pulled from the schedule, or movies, which have only a weekend before they’re written off as failures. For books, it’s more like a few months. Then the traditional publishing world is on to what’s being published right now or this fall or spring. This is true of litbloggers, too. Most don't have a great deal of interest in last season's offerings, forget about the offerings of a few seasons back. Everyone wants to be part of the publishing establishment, and the publishing establishment is a bullet train that stops for no one.

Perhaps I have mentioned that a week or two after my first book, My Life Among the Aliens, was published, I naively went up to the information desk at my local Borders and asked why the book wasn’t available. The woman there looked it up on her computer. “We had a copy,” she said. “But it didn’t sell, so we sent it back.”

I’ve read marketers advising writers to give up promoting their books after three months and work on their next one. There’s nothing more that can be done for the "old" book at that point.

So Little Space

Paper-and-ink books are real objects that take up space on shelves and in warehouses. That’s a big factor shortening their sales’ lives. Bookstores can’t carry every book published every year, forget about books from past years. And they can’t sacrifice space to books that aren’t bringing in money fast. A book can’t sit on a shelf while it builds up a readership. Even warehouse space is costly. There is a logical reason new books are pushed aside so fast. You might call it the publishing world’s space and time continuum problem. (If I knew something about physics, I’d try to carry that analogy a whole lot further. Or just maybe make it work in the first place.)

EBooks And Space And Time

EBooks, do not take up space. It doesn’t cost anything to store them because they are not objects. They are pure thought! They are…Wait. Don’t go there, Gail.

My point is, it doesn’t cost anyone anything to store eBooks in warehouses or place them on store shelves where a John Green book that would sell by the end of the day could go. So now the question arises, if space is not an issue, does that mean that time isn’t an issue, either? Shouldn’t an author/publisher be able to market an eBook indefinitely?

Testing that theory is why every now and then I get out the ol’ lab coat and do a marketing push for Saving the Planet & Stuff. I love planning work for month-long periods, so this is my second year assigning said marketing to the month of April, home of Earth Day.

For this year’s marketing push, I wanted to do something different. So I’ve changed my publishing platforms so that I can offer Saving the Planet & Stuff for free during Earth Day week. I’ll remind you as the free days come closer.

In the meantime, I’ll be doing posts here this month related to Saving the Planet & Stuff, or environmentalism, or self-publishing. Or anything else I can think of that beats this horse.

I love a plan.

A slightly different version of this post appeared at

Get Mindy Kaling To Blurb Your Book

Earlier this week, for what I think was the first time ever, I purchased a book because of a blurb. Okay, it was an eBook on sale for $1.99. And I have a gift card on file with Amazon, so it didn't cost me anything. But still.

The book was After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman, someone I hadn't heard of. But it was a mystery, which is sort of my reading genre, and, as I said earlier, it was only $1.99, and I wasn't even going to have to pay that because of that gift card that I also mentioned before. Plus the author has a lot of published work, so if I liked this book, I would have her backlist to draw on. All compelling reasons for a purchase.

But not enough.

I went to Lippman's Facebook page (evidently some people do go to author Facebook pages), and I see this: "Laura Lippman is one of my favorite writers. I cannot focus on anything else when I am reading one of her books. Her writing makes me wish I lived a sexier and more violent life." Mindy Kaling.

It was the "wish I lived a sexier and more violent life" part that sold me.

This post originally appeared at Original Content.

I Guess I'd Better Figure Out This Biopunk Thing

Today is Beloved Niece's birthday. I may have mentioned her at Original Content from time to time because I've been buying books for her since 2010. I know the date because I kept a list. Wait. I know I've mentioned her there. This is the niece I read Skulduggery Pleasant with. It wasn't that long ago. I finished in January, 2015. I keep a list.

Okay. Well, I learned last week that Beloved Niece is taking beacoup de science- and math-related AP classes next year. She may be taking some this year. Some of these things I had never heard of when I was her age. Seriously. I don't think they had calculus and physics in Vermont back then. She's also, I was told, interested in studying bioengineering.

I have to up my game. I have to figure out what the game is.

So for this birthday I got Becki the first Lockwood & Co by Jonathan Stroud, because these are our kind of books. I mean, just because you're all AP doesn't mean you can't have fun.

But, then, because I am a truly superior aunt, I googled bioengineering and YA fiction. Yes, I know not many aunts would have thought of that. That's why I am a superior one. Thus, I learned about biopunk.

According to What Is Biopunk?, a nice short piece at ScienceFiction.com, "...the essence of biopunk: subversives using futuristic biotech." I so love a short explanation. The article's author, Josh Evans, also says, "It is not logical to append the “punk” word to a genre name unless at least some of the characters are rebels working against what is considered the “norm” of society. Typically, a punk has some anarchist views and is less likely to obey society’s laws." I did not know that. See all I'm learning because my niece has gone STEM?

To try to support this new information I received about my young family member, I also got her The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. I saw it mentioned in biopunk articles and, if my recollection of reading it is at all accurate, it certainly seems to fit the bill.

Sidebar: According to that What Is Biopunk? article, Dark Angel and Aeon Flux are both examples of biopunk TV. Both shows I liked. Though, honestly, don't ask me what Aeon Flux is about. Even this doesn't make it clear to me.

At any rate, this is a genre I'm going to need to pay a little attention to.

My Publishers Marketplace Experience

"Publishers Marketplace is a site filled with all kinds of publishing information, including listings on agents and new sales. The "Today's Deals" offering is useful for writers researching who is interested in what. I started subscribing to the Marketplace (which actually costs money) and getting the "Today's Deals" delivered to me back in December, 2014 and then didn't read any of them. For a year. I just stockpiled the things, thinking I'd get to looking at them someday.

Well, I was right. I did get to looking at them. I went through them in January, often reading up to a month's worth a day. It was a fascinating experience, sucking up information in chunks like that.

What I Noticed Going Through More Than A Year's Worth Of Deals:

Publishing relies on cliche for description. Many new books were described as being about a situation more deadly/dire/romantic than "s/he/they could ever have imagined." There were also a lot of people with family or personal mysteries. In my experience, that's not all that common. Family mysteries are usually common knowledge.

Many debut books or general books were sold last year that appeared to be adult had teen characters. That's common, a book situation I'm interested in.

In children's lit, there was a resurgence of the problem book last year. Diversity was all over the place, sometimes treated as a problem.

A lot of ghost stories were sold last year, for adults as well as children. Maybe more for adults.

Many deals begin with something like "Best-selling blah blah blah and blah blah author's new book..." and I'd never heard of the best-selling book or its author. This happened so much that I should feel really bad about it.

Even well-known agents often are selling only ten or fewer books a year. (This is something subscribers can check on through Marketplace. Bang for my buck!) That may be a lot. On the other hand, maybe there's no reason for writers to get all excited because they've landed an agent. What are the chances that your book will be one of the ten or fewer books s/he sells next year?

When I got back far enough, say, to early 2015, I was reading about books that, by now, are in print. Which was kind of neat. The League of Unexceptional Children, for instance. Revenge of the Angels. She Came From Beyond. The Taming of the Drew.

I'm also seeing a lot of books coming up that I hope I'll eventually stumble across, because they look good. A sci-fi Pride and Prejudice, for instance. (Adult) I hate dragon stories, but that could work. Then Nicole Conway has sold a children's book that's supposed to involve "gun-slinging fairies." I hate fairies, too, but as a reader, I could probably get behind that. Also the picture book that sold last summer called Even Fairies Fart. I'm looking forward to that. There's a book about an order of fighting nuns. (Appears to be adult.) Donna Hosie's Devil's Intern has two follow-up books. Looking forward to Master Diplexito and Mr. Scant. There's a book coming out about Strongheart, who, believe it or not, I have actually heard of. An adult book coming out, Mr. Rochester, all about Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre.

I'm keeping up with the Daily Deals now. Reading them a day or two at a time just isn't as big an experience as reading twenty or thirty all at once."

Originally published at Original Content

Louise Rennison--Fabby, Fab, Fab Forever

I have written about Georgia Nicolson many times at my blog, Original Content. I was sorry to write about her this past week, because I had to report that her creator, Louise Rennison, had died.

Rennison's most famous creation was, and continues to be, a fantastic character. Sometimes not much happened in a fabby, fab, fab Georgia Nicolson book. "Not many authors can write about the nothingness of life as entertainingly as Rennison. Sacre bloody bleu! She is a genius!" Yeah, that was me, saying that.

How terrific was Georgia Nicolson? How much of an impact did she have? Write alikes started appearing soon after Georgia exploded on the scene. They didn't last long, because there is only one Georgia Nicholson.

How good is she? I can read a book about boyfriends and shopping only if Georgia is in it.

How good was Louise Rennison? Even when she moved on to another series, one about Georgia's younger cousin, Tallulah, she couldn't help but be funny. And that's with Tallulah being deeper than Georgia. "Her interests involve more than boys but not to the point that it ruins her sense of humor." "She and her friends have read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, though, and are capable of some really clever Heathcliff and Mrs. Rochester jokes. In the Glossary at the back of the book, Tallulah defines Heathcliff as "The 'hero' of Wuthering Heights. Although no one knows why." Yes, I'm quoting me again. Because, seriously, Rennison is a favorite author.

Well, this stinks.

A slightly different version of this post appeared at Original Content.

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Nominees

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced the finalists for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. I feel I should pick something from this list to read.

Seriously Wicked, Tina Connolly (Tor Teen)
Court of Fives, Kate Elliott (Little, Brown)
Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge (Macmillan UK 5/14; Amulet)
Archivist Wasp, Nicole Kornher-Stace (Big Mouth House)
Zeroboxer, Fonda Lee (Flux)
Shadowshaper, Daniel José Older (Levine)
Bone Gap, Laura Ruby (Balzer + Bray)
Nimona, Noelle Stevenson (HarperTeen)
Updraft, Fran Wilde (Tor)