Holly Cupala's Blog, page 5

KidLitCon Kapow

This year's KidLitCon, set in beautiful downtown Seattle's Hotel Monaco (which, for the record, blew me away with its gorgeousness and hospitality), quite literally knocked me into the middle of this week with things to ponder, friend connections, and new ideas. Wow. The whole thing was organized by the tremendous team of Jackie Parker and Colleen Mondor with about as much sass and class as you could possibly desire in an event dedicated to the art of blogging children's books. To find out more, check out the KidLitCon roundup and #kidlitcon on Twitter.

One of the big buzzwords for the weekend was "relationships," and it was wonderful to see those relationships forming among bloggers, authors, gatekeepers, readers, and booklovers alike. I feel like I came away with a ton of new friends like Sara of Novel Novice and Michelle and Allison of Authors are ROCKSTARS!, and finally met Liz Burns of A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy(!), plus I got to hang out with old friends Suzanne Young, Lee Wind, Sarah Stevenson,  Pam Coughlan, Stasia Ward Kehoe, Martha Brockenbrough, Jaime Temairik, Justina Chen, Mindi Scott, Denise Jaden, Farida Dowler, Sheila Ruth, Sara Ryan...and so many more.

Scott Westerfeld kindly talked to me when he realized I was too scared to talk to him. Like Colleen said in her kidlitcon post, he really is every bit as nice as you hope he'd be.

Husband Shiraz (a.k.a. Man of Mystery, Secret Weapon, and Genius behind most of the crazy stuff we did to launch TMAS) and I were lucky enough to be asked to speak about "Tears, Sweat, and True Blood: DIY Marketing in a Post-Twilight World," where we got to chat with the audience about our own DIY efforts for TELL ME A SECRET, the whys and hows of what worked and didn't work, and how we're reshaping our plans for DON'T BREATHE A WORD, coming January 3, 2012!

Shiraz is (hopefully) going to write a guest post on this soon, but if you were at the conference and didn't get our handout, 72 (more) DIY Things You Can Do to Market Your Book, contact me and I'll email it to you. We were also excited to have an "Oprah moment" for our TELL ME A SECRET audiobook venture...stay tuned for more info about that, including a giveaway to celebrate the special edition and our deal with Audible! Woo!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with something special for DON'T BREATHE A WORD, including a hint of what's to come (note the incredible art by Realm Lovejoy):


Kapow!

Dear Bully!

I'm very excited to join my fellow contributors in celebrating the release of DEAR BULLY: 70 AUTHORS TELL THEIR STORIES tomorrow! My story is entitled "Midsummer's Nightmare."


We hope this book will become a friend to those who have been victimized by bullying. My story relates directly to much of the plot of DON'T BREATHE A WORD, and my wish is that it will offer hope to girls who are suffering relationship abuse.

Check out the fantastic USA TODAY article featuring DEAR BULLY, and if you haven't seen it already, grab the countdown widget here:

DON'T BREATHE A WORD Winner!

At long last, we have a winner for the signed ARC of DBAW...


Congrats to Julie (@JulieHeartBooks)!

And thank you to everyone else who entered! Stay tuned for more giveaways as we get closer to the release date.
Btw, in case you hadn't heard, DON'T BREATHE A WORD is coming January 3, 2012. Get the countdown widget!

Win a signed ARC of Don't Breathe a Word!

Lots of readers have been saying very nice things about DON'T BREATHE A WORD...so here is a chance to win a rare early signed ARC from me (In fact, I don't even think I've signed any ARCs yet, so it's pretty much one of a kind!).
ENTER TO WIN HERE, and next Friday I will randomly choose a winner. USA mailing addresses only (sorry!).
Happy reading!

Win an ARC of Don't Breathe a Word!

Lots of readers have been saying very nice things about DON'T BREATHE A WORD...so here is a chance to win a rare early signed ARC from me (In fact, I don't even think I've signed any ARCs yet, so it's pretty much one of a kind!).
Enter to win here, and next Friday I will randomly choose a winner. USA mailing addresses only (sorry!).
Happy reading!

TMAS in Babble's Top 100 Children's Books!

I just found out Tell Me a Secret has been listed among Babble's Top 100 Best Children's Books(!!)
Author Melissa Taylor says about TMAS:

Although it's about Rand, a pregnant 17-year-old, this book is not like any other pregnant-teen story I've read. The characters and the backstory are so well developed that you can't help but be drawn into the emotional turbulence of Rand's life.

To say that I am pleased would be a huge understatement. I am honored that Babble would consider my book among such favorites as Wintergirls, The House of the Scorpion, The Outsiders, and The Book Thief.

Thank you, Michelle and Babble!

Books of Wonder love for Don't Breathe a Word

I've been meaning to post this incredible note from a bookseller at Books of Wonder in NYC. She was the first person to read the novel and write to me, which absolutely blew me away. Here, I reprint her letter (with persmission):

Hi Holly!


I just finished reading DON'T BREATHE A WORD and I wanted to let you know just how much I adored it! WOW! Definitely my favorite realistic fiction novel that I've read thus far this year. I work at a children's bookstore and we received a box of fall galleys from HarperTeen a week or so ago. It was like Christmas. Your novel was one of the first I made time to read.


Can we talk about Creed...? I think he is definitely my new literary crush. There are so many beautiful sentences in your novel, but I really loved the following: "His voice came out deep and soft, like I imagined his kiss would be. He sang a song I didn't know, one about living like waves on top of water and feeling the turbulence underneath, being a new current against the depths that had been there for all time. There was a loneliness there, and uncertainty, and freedom. All the things I'd been feeling, captured in a breath." *sigh* Beautiful.


I greatly enjoyed Joy's story. Ha! Cheesy pun totally intended. I came to really care about Joy, Creed, May, and Santos. I literally could not put the book down until I knew that they were alright. Until I knew there was hope that things were going to get better for them... There is always hope.


I won't ramble on any longer, I just wanted to THANK YOU for writing such a moving novel. Today I went out and purchased TELL ME A SECRET and I can't wait to start reading it.

That pretty much made my month, and maybe even my summer! Thank you, Wonderful BOW girl!

You can support your local indie bookstore by ordering my books here:  

Don't Breathe a Word: release update!

This just in: DON'T BREATHE A WORD has a new birthday...

The bad news is we'll have to wait two and a half more months for DBAW to hit the shelves on January 3, 2012. The good news is that the people behind-the-scenes at HarperCollins are in love with the book, so they are expanding their promotion in a big way (hooray!).

Sorry for the delay, everyone, but I hope you will all love the book that much more! (Plus it gives me more time to work on this third novel...)

If you don't already have the countdown widget, get it here:

Xanda would be proud.

My friend Michelle sent me this:

"Check out this pic of Kristen Stewart...what is she wearing? I think she read your book and was inspired..."


Xanda would definitely approve of the safety-pin dress (or maybe be crazy jealous, who knows?). Thanks, Michelle!

Celebrating A Need so Beautiful with Random Acts of Kindness

I'm very excited to join a whole bunch of bloggers and friends to celebrate Suzanne Young's A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL release today!

Speaking of beautiful, I can't think of anyone who embodies that more than Suzanne, who is one of the kindest people you will ever meet. My job today is to tell you about a random act of kindness that was very meaningful to me, so of course I will tell you a story about Suzanne herself.

I met Suzanne at a kidlit blogger conference a few years ago in Portland, OR, where she lives (in fact that's where we took the above pic. She came up to Seattle for an SCBWI writing/illustrating conference a couple of years later and we got to hang out again! And here's where her act of kindness came in:

I have a secret enemy...basically, an immune illness that knocks me out when I try to do too much (ugh). I love to go to conferences, but I tend to be running on empty by the second day.
Sweet Suzanne, who had a room in the conference hotel, sent me up to her room to take a nap. It seems like a simple thing, but believe me, it made a huge difference. Not only that, but Suzanne made sure it was dark, I had nice pillows, and nobody disturbed me. She basically saved me, and we had a fantastic time.

Because that's what kind of person Suzanne is - not to mention an amazing writer. So check out A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL, and stop by Suzanne's blog to congratulate her!

Oh, and there are PRIZES, of course. Here's how to enter:

Earn one extra entry for each of the following:
Take a picture of an author's book in the wild and tweet it to us and the author
Post a positive Amazon review for a book you loved
Donate a book to a library or classroom
Tweet a good deed you plan to do this week, using the #ANeedSoBeautiful hashtag

Earn 10 extra entries for each of the following:
Take a picture of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL in the wild and tweet it to us and Suzanne Young
Post an Amazon review for A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL
Donate a copy of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL to a library or classroom

You can go here to fill out the prize form with your total entries, and check out the full list of prizes at Suzanne's blog, including a signed copy of TELL ME A SECRET along with a signed art print from yours truly! Here are other stops, along with prizes featured:


First 3 chapter critique (Jessica at Confessions of a Bookaholic: http://www.totalbookaholic.com/)
YA Lit Swag Bag (Sara at Novel Novice: www.novelnovice.com)
Hourglass Order from TBD – Int (Corrine at Lost for Words: http://lostforwords-corrine.blogspot.com)
Random Books (Jessi at The Elliott Review: http://elliottreview.blogspot.com)
2 Header/Button Packs (Jessica at Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile: http://www.hopelessbibliophile.com/)
First 3 chapters Critique (Cindy at Books Complete Me: http://www.bookscompleteme.com/)
First 15 pages Critique (Kari at A Good Addiction: http://agoodaddiction.blogspot.com/)
Signed ARC of Hereafter (Kari at A Good Addiction: http://agoodaddiction.blogspot.com/)
Query Letter Critique (Shannon Messenger: http://ramblingsofawannabescribe.blogspot.com/)
Signed copy of Invincible Summer – US/Can (Hannah Moskowitz: hannahmosk.blogspot.com)
First Chapter Critique and a Skype Chat (Keri Mikulski: http://kerimikulski.com/books/pay-it-forward-the-author-edition/)
Signed copy of Tell Me a Secret with signed TMAS art print - US (Holly Cupala: http://www.hollycupala.com/search/label/blog)
Signed copy of Chasing Brooklyn – US (Lisa Schroeder: www.lisaschroederbooks.com)
The Pledge Swag Pack including ARC (Kimberly Derting: http://kimberlyderting.blogspot.com/)
Daisy Whitney's Blog: http://daisywhitney.com/blog/

Congratulations, Suzanne!