Hilary Wagner's Blog, page 12

2nd Printing of NIGHTSHADE CITY!!!


Illustration by Omar Rayyan for
Nightshade CityThis is a short, but very sweet post! I spoke with my editor from Holiday House yesterday, Julie Amper, and she let me know that NIGHTSHADE CITY is going into its SECOND PRINTING!! I nearly fell over. I'm thrilled and relieved. You just don't know until you know! Long story short, I just had to share it with all of you!

Thanks to all of you for your awesomeness!!!!!

xoxo -- Hilary

What's YOUR Lucky Cat???

This is Lucky Cat. He sits next to me at all times. Okay, not at all times, but at least while I'm on my laptop writing. It would be a little weird if I always had Lucky Cat sitting next to me, though my 2 year old daughter would think it was awesome! So, it got me to thinking what's your Lucky Cat? A favorite coffee mug? A beloved pen? A lucky snack? (Love a lucky snack...aka Cheetos) Maybe a favorite sweater or T-shirt?

We all have that thing that we need or at least we think we need when we write. What's yours?

xoxo -- Hilary

ILLUSTRATOR SHOUT-OUT! Realm, Niki and Stacey!

So, when NIGHTSHADE CITY debuted in October, some very sweet writer friends of mine sent me a big bag of goodies which included a hand painted frame of rats, an adorable mug that reads "Rats Rule!" (which of course they do), a bag of Cheetos (my favorite) and a slew of awesome cards! Of those, three were had drawn by some super fancy illustrators, Realm Lovejoy, Niki Smith and Stacey Vaughan! Realm Lovejoy's card!Realm is not only super amazing illustrator, but a writer as well, represented by Joanna Stampfel-Volpe. Her illustrations are to die for and she has a crazy cool blog, wherein she does her own version of a cover for writers with books on submission! You must follow her! Niki Smith's Card!Niki is another brilliant illustrator/writer who recently won a webcomic contest from DC Comics! Her webcomic (illustrated by Niki and written by Michael Jasper), In Maps and Legends, has its first season up now! You must check it out! Lisa and Laura Roecker's Card, drawn by their sister, Stacey Vaughan!And I know you all know fab sisters Lisa & Laura Roecker! Well, there is another talented sister attached these women, Stacey Vaughan! Stacey has her own business, Poochie Prints, where she designs stationary, as well as crazy cute prints for your baby's nursery! Ummm...holiday shopping anyone?? She has uber cool stuff ready to buy or you can order custom work if you want to feel even cooler! ;)
Long story short, thanks to you talented ladies for taking the time to do these gorgeous cards for me AND to everyone else who supported and helped me with my book launch!! It's been crazy, scary, awesome and everything in between! I wouldn't want it any other way! Pretty soon I'll be doing a post listing everyone who's had a part in my launch...it will be a very long list! You all have been AMAZING!
xoxo -- Hilary

Killer Cover Monday and the NCTE! Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen

Okay, just got back for the NCTE/ALAN Workshops at Disney World, which my awesome publisher, Holiday House, was kind enough to send me to! It was a wonderful conference, not to mention a great Thanksgiving vacation for my family! Oh, and when I presented to the 300+ educators on Tuesday they actually laughed at my jokes! Phew! I was so nervous, expecting nothing but tumbleweeds and rotten tomatoes! What a relief!

So, in my many travels through Disney World a book kept catching my eye. The cover was to die for, the Wicked Queen from Snow White. The book is called Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen, a fractured fairytale (very hot genre right now) by Serena Valentino. I just started reading it last night. Long story short, I had to share this uber cool cover with you. On the dust jacket, the evil, yet beautiful Queen. Remove the dust jacket and here's what you get! GAH! Quite a shocker! 

BTW: Loving this book so far. Valentino writes it in a very traditional fairytale style, so nothing like WICKED or other fractured fairytale novels I've read, but so far just as enthralling!

Hope you ALL had a fantastic Thanksgiving! I didn't have to cook or clean, so mine was amazing! ;)


xoxo -- Hilary

IN LIVING COVER...what's your favorite cover?

Whittington, by Alan Armstrong, cover by Kenneth McMillan
Have you ever read a book, loved the book, but also literally fell captivated by the cover? Basically to the point where you can't stop staring at it and every time you look at it you find something new to wonder about?

The cover of the Newbery Honor book, WHITTINGTON by Alan Armstrong, does that to me. This version of the cover was created by Kenneth McMillan and it just draws me in (no pun intended). You start with those eyes--that mesmerizing stare that makes you realize this animal is much more than your average feline. Then you see that sad limp ear--what happened to this cat? Who or what hurt him? Was he born that way? Did he deserve it? He's large and burly, with a scruffy chest and bold confident stripes--who is this cat? McMillan does a fantastic job of making what most people would think is simply a typical housecat into anything but. Every time I look at this cover I see more.

What covers do it for you? Is there something new--a book you're reading now that has a cover that just strikes you or maybe something you read as a child--a cover that you can still picture in your head after all those years and sometimes do?

Social Networking Fail or Save Me from Myself!

PROJECT MAYHEM: Social Networking Fail or Save Me from Myself!
I'm talking about social networking today on the Project Mayhem Blog. When does it become too much???

Just in Time for Halloween! UNEARTHLY ASYLUM, by PJ Bracegirdle!!!

LOVE THIS COVER!!!It's that time again for all things creepy! My favorite time of year! In celebration, I'm reviewing a new middle-grade novel UNEARTHLY ASYLUM , by PJ Bracegirdle (provided by Simon & Schuster).

UNEARTHLY ASYLUM is the 2nd book in THE JOY OF SPOOKING series. But don't despair if you have yet to gobble up Book I, FIENDISH DEEDS. UNEARTHLY ASYLUM can stand on its own two feet! I had no problem digging into this book and Bracegirdle does a quick and seamless job of catching the reader up on what transpired in Book I.

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Joy Wells isn't like most other girls - not that she much cares. Obsessed with famous horror writer E. A. Peugeot, Joy spends her time dressing up in a dead woman's tweeds and investigating paranormal activity around her hometown of Spooking. Meanwhile the mayor's assistant Mr. Octavio Phipps has also trained his sinister sights on the mysterious asylum. As Joy already knows, the embittered ex-punk rocker will stop at nothing in his nefarious quest to destroy her beloved town. When her pet frog Fizz becomes trapped behind the walls of a mental asylum, Joy must mount a rescue operation that brings her into conflict with Mr. Phipps again. Along with her brother Byron and their strange playmate Poppy, Joy soon uncovers mind-bending secrets straight from the pages of her favorite author. Can Joy get everyone out alive, or will they be trapped in the unearthly asylum forever?

THINGS I LOVED ABOUT THIS BOOK:
The Writing. Bracegirdle is very literary. No spoon feeding in this book, which I love!

The Spooky Factor. This is perfect for readers who want to read under the covers with a flashlight. It's spooky enough to get kids' minds whirling with the supernatural, but not enough that they won't be able to get to sleep.

The Villain: Those of you who know me, know I love a well rounded villain! Bracegirdle's Mr. Phipps is just that. He has layers. You want to know more about him (for example, Phipps is an ex-punk rocker, which I think is pretty cool). Best of all, you love to hate him.

The Author: PJ is one cool cat! He has pretty much the craziest (creepiest) bio ever! He's worked in a haunted Scottish theatre and pushed laundry carts along dark tunnels under an insane asylum, just to name a few creepy jobs! You can find out more about him on his site at http://www.pjbracegirdle.com/, along with the official JOY OF SPOOKING website, http://www.joyofspooking.com.

Oh, and one last thing: There will be a 3rd book in the Joy of Spooking!! Go PJ!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!


xoxo -- Hilary

Book Birthday Shout Out!!! THE BOY WHO HOWLED by Tim Power

THE BOY WHO HOWLED
Happy Book Birthday to Timothy Power, author of THE BOY WHO HOWLED (Bloomsbury USA Children's)!! My friend and fellow Project Mayhem blogger Tim Power finally gets to scream to the rooftops about his fantastic middle-grade debut!

Here is the scoop on The Boy Who Howled: As far back as Callum can really remember, he's been living in the Wild as the furless mascot of a wolf pack. But when his pack sends him back to live with his own kind—humans—fitting in is quite a challenge. He doesn't remember English very well, so he accidentally says his name is "Clam." He's spent most of his life eating fresh-killed elk, so dining with vegetarians is tricky. And when he tries to impress the Alpha student in the school cafeteria by stealing food, people seem offended!

A mix of wildness and humor, Timothy Power's inventive writing makes him a debut author to watch. And Callum's quest to find his place in a strange world will have readers rooting for him—when they're not howling with laughter.
Author Tim Power
Is he not a handsome devil??In short...buy his AWESOME book!!!! Also, stop by the Project Mayhem blog and wish him and the Boy Who Howled a very merry birthday!!!

xoxo -- Hilary

Toot Your Horn Friday! What's in a name?

Killdeer from Nightshade City
Illustration by Omar RayyanIt seems there are two camps when it comes to naming characters and books. One camp (my camp) loves it! The other camp can't stand making up names or titles.

For me, I think names are extremely important when it comes to my characters. I painstakingly pick each one out, some have a personal meaning (Vincent Nightshade, Vincent is my son's name), while others are purely for effect (if Killdeer doesn't sound evil to you, I don't know what does!). I think names are just as important as the world your characters exist in.

As for titles, I went back and forth briefly on what NIGHTSHADE CITY would be called. At one point, I really liked The Rats of Nightshade City or The Rats of Nightshade. My husband told me no way! He said Nightshade City has a lot more muscle to it and I should go with my first instinct. I think he was right... ;)

So, how about you? Do you think names are important? Do you think Harry Potter would have been as successful if he was Hank Putt? Would the Artemis Fowl series be such a hit if it were entitled Artie Feldstein? Would Redwall have wowed the world if it were called Cute Mice in an Abbey?

xoxo -- Hilary

Guest Post: Author Janice Hardy's Query Quest!

Hi Everyone! Today we have a very special guest, Janice Hardy, YA author of The Shifter and its newly released sequel,  Blue Fire ! Every author's road to finding an agent is unique and Janice has offered to share hers, which is very inspiring! So, take it away, Janice!
A few years ago, I wrote a book and queried eight agents. I got four manuscript requests and three offers of representation. (I know, you all hate me, but hang with me a little longer). If "The Shifter" had been the only book I'd ever queried, I would have thought this whole publishing thing was easy. But it was the fourth "real" book I'd ever written (written with the intent to try and sell). The other three didn't go nearly so well. Like thirty form rejections each. Very few page requests. Certainly no fulls.

So what was different about this book?

For one, it was a better book. A lot of attention is placed on writing the perfect query letter, but truth is, the best query in the world can't sell a book that isn't working. With my first submission attempt, I never got past the query stage. My second attempt, I got a few page requests, but all were rejected (including the agent I would later sign with). Clearly something was wrong with the book, since the pages weren't grabbing the reader. I revised and tried again, with the same results. By this time, I had a nice, thick file full of form rejections and a few encouraging words.

Then came "The Shifter." I knew early on I had something better than I'd ever had before. It just felt different when I was writing it. I started to think I might have an actual shot, and – dare I say it – get a full manuscript request. That was really my goal at this point. I just wanted one more step forward in the process to prove to myself that I was making progress.

I didn't want to make the same mistakes I'd made on those earlier books. I knew my query had to rock. I knew I had to send it to the right agents who might like my work.

I had no clue how to do any of that.

I figured the best place to start was to make a list of agents to submit to. I used AgentQuery.com and cross-referenced those names against Preditors & Editors. I cut any who had warnings, and wound up with 25 agents. Then I read agent blogs, especially those agents on my list. I Googled them to see what interviews they'd done or any articles they'd written. I checked out their client lists and read the books that seemed similar to mine. I was able to split my list into three parts based on this research. A) Agents who represented what I'd written, had sold a lot of books in my genre, and liked books like mine. B) Agents who represented what I'd written, had sold some books in my genre, and C) Agents who represented what I'd written and sold at least one book in my genre.

Now it was time to write that query.

I read everything I could find on writing successful queries. The most helpful advice came from Miss Snark and her Crap-O-Meter query contests. Seeing hundreds of real queries and reading her comments on what worked and what didn't was an eye-opening experience. I started to get a feel for what a good query sounded like. Remarkably like cover copy on a book, but with details instead of being vague. So I went online and read cover copy of books in my genre. I analyzed the ones that grabbed me and made notes. I used the "here's a person with a problem and here's what they have to do to solve it" template and wrote my query.

And it was so-so.

I know this because at that time, an agent was doing a "post your query and I'll give you feedback on it" session on her blog. I jumped at the chance and submitted mine. She had all kinds of issues with it. She couldn't get behind the premise of the story (buying and selling pain) at all.

Hmmm.

So I went back to the drawing board. This time, I focused more on the protagonist and what she needed to do, and less on world building. It felt much more interesting, because it was about a character with a problem, not "this is the book's plot."

Right about this time, one of the agents on my list announced she was doing a "Back to School" open query for YA. Writers could bypass the regular submission process if they had a YA book. Well, I had a YA book, I was ready to start submitting, so I sent it in. I figured this was a good time to send in the rest.

Then I saw another post online from another agent who was just starting to take on clients. She was working under a well-known agent on my B-list. I queried her as well, figuring she'd be more open to new writers since she was a new agent. And since she had a great agent mentoring her, I'd get the best of both worlds – experience and the need for new clients.

Both requested pages, then fulls. A third agent also asked for the full shortly thereafter (she was a standard snail mail query). I was ecstatic.

I was also just about to attend the Surrey International Writers Conference. Conveniently, several of my A-list agents were going to be there, so I'd be able to meet them and see what they were like. I got a pitch appointment with the last agent on my A-list and pitched her in person. She also asked for the full.

I was beyond excited at this point, and when I got home from the conference I had an offer of representation in my email. After the screaming and jumping for joy subsided, I contacted the other agents with my fulls and told them I'd gotten an offer. How much time did they need to read my manuscript? Was by X date long enough? They read them and got back to me. Three were interested in representing me, one passed, but wished me luck.

Now I had the tough job of making a choice. All three were fabulous agents, so I really couldn't have chosen wrong, but I wanted the one that was the best fit for me and my book. I spoke to them, listened to what they thought about the book, and made my decision. (The fabulous Kristin Nelson)

The entire querying to signing process took six weeks. The agent I signed with (the one I pitched) took ten days. This is why they say don't query until your manuscript is as good as it can be, because you never know how quickly you might need to send it to someone. When it happens, it can happen fast.

The process was easy compared to my earlier submissions, but if I hadn't gone through that and made my newbie mistakes, I doubt I would have put in the effort or had the skills to write the book and the query that got me my agent. Whenever I'd get rejected, I tried hard not to tell myself I wasn't good enough. It was, "I'm not good enough yet." That slight change in thinking made it easier to pick myself up and keep going.

And the only way to get ahead is to keep moving forward. Even if it's one small step at a time.

About Blue Fire:
Part fugitive, part hero, fifteen-year-old Nya is barely staying ahead of the Duke of Baseer's trackers. Wanted for a crime she didn't mean to commit, she risks capture to protect every Taker she can find, determined to prevent the Duke from using them in his fiendish experiments. But resolve isn't enough to protect any of them, and Nya soon realizes that the only way to keep them all out of the Duke's clutches is to flee Geveg. Unfortunately, the Duke's best tracker has other ideas.

Nya finds herself trapped in the last place she ever wanted to be, forced to trust the last people she ever thought she could. More is at stake than just the people of Geveg, and the closer she gets to uncovering the Duke's plan, the more she discovers how critical she is to his victory. To save Geveg, she just might have to save Baseer—if she doesn't destroy it first.

Janice Hardy Bio:
A long-time fantasy reader, Janice Hardy always wondered about the darker side of healing. For her fantasy trilogy THE HEALING WARS, she tapped into her own dark side to create a world where healing was dangerous, and those with the best intentions often made the worst choices. Her books include THE SHIFTER, and BLUE FIRE from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. She lives in Georgia with her husband, three cats and one very nervous freshwater eel.


Find Janice at:
Website: www.janicehardy.com
The Other Side of the Story Blog: http://storyflip.blogspot.com/

Janice, thanks for sharing your road to finding an agent! We are so excited about your new release!!! I can't wait to get reading!

xoxo -- Hilary