FAQ (with foreign release trivia)

January was going to be my vacation month. I was going to do nothing but read for pleasure, watch Netflix, and fiddle around with this new idea in a non-deadline-y, non-stressful way. I was going to sleep in, go beg my hairdresser to do something with my hair, and maybe try out the new mixer I got for Christmas.

Guess what didn't happen.

To be fair, I did finish all four seasons of Prison Break (LOVED the first, was bored by the fourth), attain hard-level skills on the Rock Band keyboard, start learning the pro keyboard, and make it to level 20 in Fallout New Vegas (#1 and I share a character). And I have been working on this new idea. But for all practical purposes, my vacation ended when I started edits on BLOOD BOUND last week.

So, now I'm doing revisions on BLOOD BOUND, critiquing for my CP, working on the new idea, and plotting out the sequel to BLOOD BOUND. I'm starting to feel busy again, which is nice. Still, something must be done about my hair. ;)

Also, I've been answering questions. Tons of them, on Facebook, Formspring, and Twitter. I mostly get release-info questions on Facebook, plot-related questions on Formspring, and ... well, everything on Twitter. I don't mind answering questions. In fact, I like it. It makes me feel interesting and loved. But if you don't mind maybe glancing through what I've already answered before asking your question, that would be awesome. On Blogger, you can just choose the Q&A category from the list on the right. On Formspring, just scroll down (but beware of spoilers).

And, finally, here are a few of the most common questions I've been getting lately, for your convenience. ;)

Is IF I DIE going to be the last Soul Screamers book? I don't know. It's the last one I'm currently contracted for. It's an open ended series, so I could totally write more, but that all depends on sales. The end of IF I DIE is... well, it's the biggest, most shocking thing that's happened in the Soul Screamers world so far. I wrote it so that, if need be, I can end the series there. Or, if I get a chance to write more, the series can take off in a whole new direction.


When can we see the cover for BLOOD BOUND/IF I DIE? Sometime after I see them. Neither book has a cover yet. I have seen a cover concept (a mockup of the general idea) for BLOOD BOUND but it's made with stock images and still has one of the previous titles ideas. So it's no where near final.

When will [insert book title here] be available in my country? Again, I don't know. The publishing industry is a very large, complicated beast, and every writer's/book's journey is different. In my case specifically (this won't hold true for most other authors), both Mira Books (the adult imprint I write for) and Harlequin Teen are divisions of Harlequin, and when we sold my books to Harlequin, we sold them what's known as world rights.

What that means is that Harlequin has the right to publish (or not publish) or to sell (or not sell) my books in any other country in the world. Harlequin is huge. It has divisions in many other countries (UK, France, the Netherlands, Turkey, etc...) so some of my books will be out by Harlequin in places where they have offices. But Harlequin may also choose to sell publication rights to other publishers in countries where they can't publish my books themselves. Or even in countries where they can. For instance, there is an HQ arm in Turkey, but my books are coming out in Turkey through Pegasus (which publishes Becca Fitzpatrick, PC Cast, Stieg Larsson, etc...) not through Harlequin Türkiye.


Here's the other thing: they don't routinely tell me where or when my books will be out in other countries. Most of the time, my editor doesn't even know. Seriously. I found out about my Turkish editions when the translator found me on Facebook. I found out about the French and Italian editions of Stray on Twitter. I discovered the Finnish edition of Stray through a Google Alert just this past Saturday. Rumor has it Stray will soon be in Norway, but I can neither confirm nor deny that rumor, because I have no insider information.


But I can promise you that when I find out about a foreign release, I will announce it. So here's where my books are currently (or soon to be) available.


Stray : US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Australia/New Zealand, Finland, and Turkey.
Rogue : US, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Australia/NZ, and Turkey
Pride, Prey, Shift, Alpha : US, Canada, UK, and Australia/NZ
Soul Screamers: US, Canada, UK, Australia/NZ, and France

Also, please note that often the foreign editions of books look very different from the US editions, and they often have radically different titles. Examples:



(US, Finnish, French, Italian, Australian)

Notice that the Finnish Stray uses cover art from the US version of Alpha. The Australian covers do something similar after Stray, and the Italian edition of Rogue uses the cover art from the US edition of Shift.

In Finnish, Stray is called "Catgirl." In Italian, it's "Claws of the Panther." In French, Stray is "The Claws of the Night," which, coincidentally, is also what they call the French translation of the old Wes Craven movie Nightmare on Elm Street. Amazon.fr seems to think I wrote them both. ;)

By some other odd coincidence, Craven's latest horror release was called My Soul To Take. Weird, huh?