Lisa Roecker's Blog, page 42

THE LIAR SOCIETY News

So we've learned a lot about publishing since we sold THE LIAR SOCIETY just over a year ago.

Lesson #1: As you know and we enjoy pointing out, publishing moves SLOW. Slower than mere mortals like us could ever conceive of.

Lesson #2: Publishing is a roller coaster. One second you're on top of the world with dreams of becoming the next Meg Cabot (unrealistic? wha?), the next second you're....not.

Lesson #3: Sometimes things happen that you have no control over and you just have to roll with the punches. In this case, the absolute wrong cover was "leaked" to Amazon and Goodreads.

At first we were shocked that we were even remotely cool enough to have anything associated with us "leaked," and then we were confused because (just for the record) Kate does not wear glasses. Not that we have anything against glasses, because we totally don't. Glasses are great! They help you see better and they're tres fashionable in the right context. Hell, we even considered giving Kate a monocle, but we decided against it at the last minute.

The point is this cover is wrong. This will not be the cover of THE LIAR SOCIETY. In fact, we have some really, really amazing things planned over the next couple of weeks related to the cover of THE LIAR SOCIETY, so we were a little sad when this placeholder image was released.

But as lesson #3 has taught us, when publishing sends you lemons you make lemonade (or in our case, limoncello). So we've decided to take this opportunity to unleash our fancy new website for THE LIAR SOCIETY upon the interwebs. Click and enjoy. And PLEASE stay tuned because we've got some really cool stuff planned for THE LIAR SOCIETY and it's coming soon!

Your monocle loving writer friends,
LiLa

Bookinistas: THE REPLACEMENT

We're back...okay, not really. Today we're super-excited to offer up a new perspective. And not only that, but a YOUNG perspective! Matt Rush, the brains behind The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment blog has a daughter, Kylie. Kylie is in high school. Kyle is a reader. Kylie has opinions. AND she's offered to share them with us! How awesome is that?! So...we now present you our first ever Guestanista Review of THE REPLACEMENT, by Brenna Yovanoff.

Here's what the back cover has to say:
Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs.

Edward Scissorhands meets The Catcher in the Rye in this wildly imaginative and frighteningly beautiful horror novel about an unusual boy and his search for a place to belong.

Kylie's Take:

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff certainly is a wonderful YA novel. It instantly grabs the reader's attention with the introduction of the main character, Mackie Doyle.


He's shy, but when you hear his description: blonde, pale, but with black eyes; you're immediately intrigued. He doesn't sound like any other character I've ever read. I was really curious to see where his story took me.

A changeling in a town of dark secrets, Mackie is an outcast who is lucky to be alive – and his luck is running out. Allergic to consecrated ground, and iron (how weird is that) and with a pastor for a father, Mackie's life is not a common one.

As compelling as Mackie is, my favorite part about this novel is the story. I won't give away the details but the plot is exciting, fun and so fast paced I finished this book in one two hour sitting. Any teen who reads this book will connect with Mackie; after all, we're not even comfortable in our own skin.

I would recommend this book to any reader, and Brenna Yovanoff is now permanently on my radar.



Kylie, we couldn't have said it any better ourselves.

Check out what the other Bookinistas are up to this week:


Christine Fonseca is amazed by DESIRES OF THE DEADElana Johnson is in love with PERILOUSMyra McEntire is wowed by A VISITOR'S GUIDE TO MYSTIC FALLSShannon Messenger is awestruck by THE MARBURY LENS and giving away a signed hardcoverMegan Miranda is captivated by MATCHEDBeth Revis is blown away by DEMONGLASSCarolina Valdez Miller is spreading picture book love for CHICKEN BUTT!Bethany Wiggins is stunned by STRANGE ANGELS

Just a couple of quitters...

REVOLUTION by Jennifer Donnelly makes us want to throw in the towel. We're not sure if we're ever coming back. You can thank Jennifer. She's that good.

More on this later...no time...must finish reading for book club tomorrow night.

In the meantime, what book have you read recently that was so good you wanted to give up writing forever?

Wanna hear our rebel yell??

That's right we're guest vlogging for the YA Rebels today. Click here to enjoy a (very) random look at the 10 things that define us as writers. And, um, be kind. We haven't really been getting much sleep lately.

Everyone's a Winner!

Well...kinda. While there can only be one winner of the Pay It Forward with Partials contest, we ALL get to win tonight at 9 PM when Stephen Barbara and Leila Sales join us for a super-awesome, highly-fantastic, totally-radical agent-author WriteOnCon chat.

And there's more! Are we blowing your mind yet? One participant will have the chance to win not only Leila Sales' book MOSTLY GOOD GIRLS, but also a MIX CD. Yes, you heard that right, a collection of songs compliments of Leila. How cool is that? All you have to do is show up for the chat, ask amazing agent-author relationship-related questions and leave a comment on the post entitled LEAVE A COMMENT HERE TO WIN LEILA'S GOODIES (we like to limit confusion; you're welcome), which will post at 8:30 PM tonight before the chat. We'll announce the winner LIVE during the last couple minutes of the chat (you must be present to win, so don't duck out early). Easy as pie, right?

Finally, Random Number Generator has chosen our winner of the Pay It Forward with Partials contest. CONGRATULATIONS Mim! Email us to claim your prize--we can't wait to check out your writing! BUT BEWARE...if we don't hear from you by Friday, we'll have to choose another winner.

Happy Monday everyone and we'll see you tonight!

LiLa's Space-Time-Publishing Theorem

Over the past two years we've been gathering scientific evidence to create a mathematical equation that may or may not result in us winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Yeah, it's THAT good.

If you're not a mathematical genius you should probably just stop reading now because you're about to read one of the most complex space-time theorems (yeah, technically I think it's an equation, but theorem sounds so much more impressive, no?) ever created. For those of you who aced pre-Algebra, hold onto your hats because this is going to blow you away.

PT = RT(1,000,000)

So here's a quick illustration for you:

You submit a manuscript to your agent or editor and they tell you that you should hear back from them within one week. If you're anything like us by the time you hit day five, you're spending roughly 12 hours a day refreshing your e-mail*. So let's apply LiLa's Space-Time-Publishing Theorem, shall we?

PT = 7(1,000,000)

So...publishing time equals 7,000,000 days. Shazam! Get that finger off the refresh button because the human race will probably be extinct before you hear back.

You're welcome.

*It should be noted that I refreshed our e-mail approximately 30 times as I typed this blog post. I'm like Russell Crow in A Beautiful Mind, cursed to have conversations with imaginary friends and dream up conspiracy theories about people deleting my e-mails before I can read them. Being a genius is totally exhausting.

Bookinistas: SELLING HOPE

We first heard about SELLING HOPE through Shannon and when she asked if any of us wanted to read, I was ALL over it! What can I say? I sit up and take notice when writers say a book is good "In that I-should-give-up-writing-because-I-will-never-be-that-good kind of way." That's how we felt about THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE (how has that book not made the best seller list?!) and I was in the mood for another one of those kind of books.
Here's what the back has to say:It's May 1910, and Halley's Comet is due to pass thru the Earth's atmosphere. And thirteen-year-old Hope McDaniels and her father are due to pass through their hometown of Chicago with their ragtag vaudeville troupe. Hope wants out of vaudeville, and longs for a "normal" life—or as normal as life can be without her mother, who died five years before. Hope sees an opportunity: She invents "anti-comet" pills to sell to the working-class customers desperate for protection. Soon, she's joined by a fellow troupe member, young Buster Keaton, and the two of them start to make good money. And just when Hope thinks she has all the answers, she has to decide: What is family? Where is home?
Lila's Take:Oh, we just loved this one. We loved Hope's asides (Kristin has integrated internal monologue jokes throughout the plot that say so much about Hope's character in so few words.) The setting is fascinating--think 1910, Vaudeville, in the midst of Halley's Comet hysteria. I found myself Googling images of Vaudeville in the 1900s just to get a visual. It's been a while since I've read historical fiction and I forgot how much I love it. I've never read about this topic before (the only thing close would be WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, which I loved, but isn't nearly as sweet--understatement of the year there) and I can only imagine how engaging this book will be for middle graders and beyond. I asked all sorts of questions while reading--What must it have been like to think a potentially devastating comet was on the way? Would I have thought pills could save me? What if something similar were to happen today? Would we even know about it or would the government keep it a big secret (Armageddon-style) for our own good? I can only imagine the questions middle schoolers could come up with!
But the best part about this book are the characters. Everyone from Hope's dad (a goofy, bookish, passionate magician), who randomly brought to mind my college roommate's husband, to Buster (another performer a bit older than Hope who is totally swoon-worthy and helps Hope with her grand idea and more) and obviously Hope, the star of the show, whose voice jumps right off the page are written impeccably. I only wish I had a class full of middle school students to share this with. The teacher in me is thinking about all sorts of cool extension ideas--I wonder if Lydia's too young to invent her own anti-comet solution?!
Luckily, I do have teacher friends who are going to get an email all about SELLING HOPE. Kids are going to LOVE this one!
Check out what the other Bookinistas are up to this week:

 Myra McEntire spreads some love for SELLING HOPE
Elana Johnson is nuts about NIGHTSHADE
Christine Fonseca swoons over SIREN
Shelli Johannes-Wells is over the moon about THE ORACLE TO REBOUNDS and her fab giveaway.
Shannon Messenger marvels over MUSEUM OF THEIVES (plus she's having another epic giveaway).
Carolina Valdez Miller is struck by SHIP BREAKER.
Megan Miranda is in love with I AM THE MESSENGER 

The Future is NOW

Ben has a new bestie. That's right, the elusive third Roecker sister finally popped. Welcome to the world Tommy!

Aren't they adorable?

You know what's not even remotely adorable? What these two are inevitably going to be doing in 15 years.

God, I'm so not ready for this...

Classy Ladies

Okay, so a lot of you guys are writers and some of you are parents. I think we can all agree that names are vitally important.

I mean, no one wants their kid getting beat down on the playground for having some goofy name that you burdened him with at birth. And reviewers have enough things to be critical about when it comes to our writing, why give them further ammo by choosing inappropriate names? We spend hours obsessing about choosing a name that will embody all of the perfect characteristics we want for our child/fictional character and demonstrate to the world exactly who we hope this person will become.

Now let me introduce you to sisters Annalynne and Angel (yes, you read that right, ANGEL) McCord.

Um...yeah. Guess it's clear what their parents were hoping to tell the world when they named their daughters and it looks like they're both doing a fantastic job of living up to their names. Bravo girls. BRAVO.

Paying It Forward With Partials

Since we began writing together, Lisa and I often sit down to procrastinate have long conversations about the amazing people we've met. You read our blog every day, give incredible feedback on our writing and send chocolate and wine when we're curled up in the fetal position. With Thanksgiving fast approaching, we want to give thanks to each of you and somehow give back some of what we've gained by getting to know you guys over the past couple of years.

So when Shannon approached us with the Pay It Forward With Partial proposition, we couldn't pass it up. We're not experts by any stretch of the imagination, but we are readers. Not to mention we provide BOGO critiques. A two-for-one steal. You can't beat that!

Even better, there are four other (far more talented) writers participating--that's 5 chances to win people! Here's how it works...

One person who comments on this post by Sunday, November 14th, 11:59 EST will win a 25 page manuscript critique compliments of LiLa. The winner will be announced Monday, November 15th!

But don't stop here. Click on the links of the amazing authors below for even more chances to win!

 P.J. (Tricia) Hoover is a MG/YA Author, married, mother of 2 awesome kids, 1 crazy Yorkshire terrier, and 2 demanding tortoises. Also an ex-electrical engineer. She is represented by Laura Rennert of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. (Texas Sweetheart and the creator of one of our favorite WriteOnCon vlogs.)

Elana Johnson is the founding author of the QueryTracker blog, a blogger with the League of Extraordinary Writers and organizer of WriteOnCon. She is represented by Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary and her debut novel, POSSESSION, will be published by Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster) in Summer 2011. (We also have the sneaking suspicion that she's cloned herself purely to ensure she has time to read and comment on approximately 10,000 blogs per day.)

Shannon Messenger writes Middle Grade Fantasy and is repped by Laura Rennert of Andrea Brown Lit. She is also one of the founders and organizers of WriteOnCon. (Known best for her random vlogs and virtual dancing at WriteOnCon events.)

Sarah Wylie is repped by Suzie Townsend at Fineprint Lit. Her debut YA novel, ALL THESE LIVES, will be published by FSG/Macmillan in 2012. (One half of the most mysterious pair of sister writers on the interwebs and our biggest competition for the love of Ryan Gosling.)

Thanks again for all of your support you guys. We are so incredibly lucky!