I Command My Monkeys
My husband and I have done a Bad Thing, and rather than repent, we're gonna embrace (literally and figuratively). We're also going to ask our readers to be complicit in our wickedness. Because that's how we roll: unrepentantly.
The bad thing: writing the Jennifer Scales series together, books which we ruthlessly wrote for the fantasy genre. That means that when the new book comes out tomorrow, EVANGELINA, some readers might not be able to find it.
The Betsy books, the werewolf books (DERIK'S BANE), the anthologies (FAERIES GONE WILD; DEAD AND LOVING IT), the Alaska books (THE ROYAL TREATMENT), the Gorgeous duo (DROP DEAD GORGEOUS), the Fred-the-mermaid trilogy (SWIMMING WITH THE SHARKS)...all those and more can be found in the romance section, under D for Dork (or, I s'pose, Davidson).
JENNIFER SCALES AND THE ANCIENT FURNACE, JENNIFER SCALES AND THE MESSENGER OF LIGHT, THE SILVER MOON ELM, RISE OF THE POISON MOON, THE SERAPH OF SORROW, and now (as of Tuesday, August 30) EVANGELINA can all be found in the fantasy section.
Yep. All of my books except the Jennifer Scales ones are in the romance section; JS and her ilk lurk in fantasy. That was the Bad Thing my husband and I did (don't worry, honey, I'm not breathing a word about the Bad Thing we did with all that silly string, or the Bad Thing we did with the pumpkin innards after we carved multiple Jack O'Lanterns last Halloween, or the Bad Thing we did with the honey butter they gave us at Anton's.). And since I just had a hardcover release in July, I wouldn't expect readers to think of checking an entirely different section in the bookstore for ever more MaryJanice (and Anthony Alongi).
But it's there! EVANGELINA should be there, cooling its heels in the fantasy shelves or, even better, on a New Release table near the front. If it's not, please don't hesitate to ask your bookseller or librarian to order it. Because Betsy and Jennifer are published under different imprints, they aren't marketed together. They have different editors, different marketing budgets, etc. And often, a bookseller or librarian will order my new hardcover for the beginning of summer, and then not even think to check a catalogue to see if I've got another book coming out 9 weeks later, at the end of summer.
But I do! And there's no escape. So don't fight it. As I said, it's our own fault Jennifer lurks in the fantasy section. We didn't have to write for that genre. Actually, we didn't: the Jennifer Scales books were originally written and marketed for the young adult genre. The trouble (though I'm not sure "trouble" is the right word) started when we began receiving fan mail from readers of all ages. In the same week, we had a fan letter from a 9 year-old boy and a 90 year-old grandmother. People of all ages were rudely going into the YA section and buying Jennifer Scales. The nerve! (And by 'the nerve' we meant 'that's awesome'.)
So! Marketing slapped a bunch of new covers on the books, and now they hang out on the fantasy bookshelves. Is it any wonder our readers sometimes have trouble tracking them down? We take full responsibility. And by "full" we mean "no".
Like we said: a Bad Thing. And like we also said: rather than repent, we could really use your help. If you want EVANGELINA (or the first in the series, JENNIFER SCALES AND THE ANCIENT FURNACE, or the second, etc.), check fantasy. If it's not there, mercilessly nag the bookstore manager. (Hey, that's what we do...and not even when there's a new book to bug them about.)
Fly, my winged monkeys! Fly!
The bad thing: writing the Jennifer Scales series together, books which we ruthlessly wrote for the fantasy genre. That means that when the new book comes out tomorrow, EVANGELINA, some readers might not be able to find it.
The Betsy books, the werewolf books (DERIK'S BANE), the anthologies (FAERIES GONE WILD; DEAD AND LOVING IT), the Alaska books (THE ROYAL TREATMENT), the Gorgeous duo (DROP DEAD GORGEOUS), the Fred-the-mermaid trilogy (SWIMMING WITH THE SHARKS)...all those and more can be found in the romance section, under D for Dork (or, I s'pose, Davidson).
JENNIFER SCALES AND THE ANCIENT FURNACE, JENNIFER SCALES AND THE MESSENGER OF LIGHT, THE SILVER MOON ELM, RISE OF THE POISON MOON, THE SERAPH OF SORROW, and now (as of Tuesday, August 30) EVANGELINA can all be found in the fantasy section.
Yep. All of my books except the Jennifer Scales ones are in the romance section; JS and her ilk lurk in fantasy. That was the Bad Thing my husband and I did (don't worry, honey, I'm not breathing a word about the Bad Thing we did with all that silly string, or the Bad Thing we did with the pumpkin innards after we carved multiple Jack O'Lanterns last Halloween, or the Bad Thing we did with the honey butter they gave us at Anton's.). And since I just had a hardcover release in July, I wouldn't expect readers to think of checking an entirely different section in the bookstore for ever more MaryJanice (and Anthony Alongi).
But it's there! EVANGELINA should be there, cooling its heels in the fantasy shelves or, even better, on a New Release table near the front. If it's not, please don't hesitate to ask your bookseller or librarian to order it. Because Betsy and Jennifer are published under different imprints, they aren't marketed together. They have different editors, different marketing budgets, etc. And often, a bookseller or librarian will order my new hardcover for the beginning of summer, and then not even think to check a catalogue to see if I've got another book coming out 9 weeks later, at the end of summer.
But I do! And there's no escape. So don't fight it. As I said, it's our own fault Jennifer lurks in the fantasy section. We didn't have to write for that genre. Actually, we didn't: the Jennifer Scales books were originally written and marketed for the young adult genre. The trouble (though I'm not sure "trouble" is the right word) started when we began receiving fan mail from readers of all ages. In the same week, we had a fan letter from a 9 year-old boy and a 90 year-old grandmother. People of all ages were rudely going into the YA section and buying Jennifer Scales. The nerve! (And by 'the nerve' we meant 'that's awesome'.)
So! Marketing slapped a bunch of new covers on the books, and now they hang out on the fantasy bookshelves. Is it any wonder our readers sometimes have trouble tracking them down? We take full responsibility. And by "full" we mean "no".
Like we said: a Bad Thing. And like we also said: rather than repent, we could really use your help. If you want EVANGELINA (or the first in the series, JENNIFER SCALES AND THE ANCIENT FURNACE, or the second, etc.), check fantasy. If it's not there, mercilessly nag the bookstore manager. (Hey, that's what we do...and not even when there's a new book to bug them about.)
Fly, my winged monkeys! Fly!
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