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Villainous License Plates

License Plates! I can’t get enough of them. And I know I just yammered on about them a few weeks ago, but I’ve stumbled across two more personalized plates that are just BEGGING to be discussed. Villainous License Plates. (Dun, dun, DUNNN!)

I need to hear your thoughts, because stories are filling my head. What kind of people come up with these??! What kind of people want these to be their introduction to all the strangers they meet on the road? It’s a fascinating thought!

First up we have VILNMKR

In case you aren’t sure what that says, I read that as VILLAIN MAKER. Now, of course, I could be totally wrong. Maybe someone’s last name is Viln. BUT, I’m sticking to my story that it is VILLAIN MAKER.

So what do you think? Parents who worry they’ll mess their kids up? A writer who just loves writing villains? An illustrator who loves drawing villians? Or is it more diabolical than that? Maybe it’s an evil scientist with a plot to take over the world. Maybe this is really the Joker’s car!!! So many fun possibilities!

Next up goes perfectly with that first one: MMWHAHA

So awesome!! Maybe this is the second car of the person up above. Or maybe it belongs to someone who just likes to laugh evilly in the face of other’s struggles. In fact, they like it so much, they paid extra to be able to laugh at all the strangers they pass on the road.

Come to think of it, I found this car parked at my son’s school. Should I be worried? Maybe we have a stereotypical principal at his school living out the evil school principal trope. Or maybe he’s just living it vicariously through his car since he’s a very nice man. (So you have no need to worry, Mr. Principal! I do not suspect your secret identity as a villain AT ALL. Not even a little bit.)

Now I didn’t get to see either of these cars actually driving. They were both parked. So I don’t know if they drive appropriately for such license plates, but I sure hope I run into these cars again!

Now you tell me! What are the stories behind these license plates?

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authors, personalized license plates, stories, villains, writers

Author Adventures

This last week has been a whirlwind of book events! On October 13th, I flew into the beautiful city of Cincinnati, OH for the Books by the Bank Regional Book Festival.

I had never been there before, and I was amazed at all the beautiful houses, the river views and of course the wonderful and friendly people.

On Friday, I participated in an author panel, along with Dee Romito (The BFF Bucket List) and Jenn Bishop (The Distance to Home) for a local school. Blue Marble Books arranged this visit, and if you are in the area, and haven’t been to their store, you should go!

On Saturday, I attended the Books by the Bank Regional Book Festival, along with so many of my fellow 2016 debut authors. I saw many friends, and made a few new ones.  Just to give you an idea:

• Dee Romito (The BFF Bucket List)
• Jenn Bishop (The Distance to Home)
• Jen Maschari (The Remarkable Journey of Charlie Price)
• Lois Sepahban (Paper Wishes)
• Bridget Hodder (The Rat Prince)
• Laura Shovan (The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary)

And then I got to meet some other wonderful authors:

• Laura Martin (The Edge of Extinction)
• Chris Grabenstein (!!!) (Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library + tons of others)
• Tricia Springstubb (Every Single Second, What Happened on Fox Street,  + so many others)

Laura was my table mate, and her super awesome book about dinosaurs being brought back to earth was a huge hit! (Alas, this blurry piture is the only one we got of the two of us). She sold out before the event was even over. You should look her up!

 

She was kind enough to take some paparazzi pictures of me signing books for some of the kids who came by. I loved meeting all the amazing kids who came through the festival. The grins on their faces because they were in a place with so many books, and so many authors. So proud of their reading abilities, and so proud to be talking to an author. They would ask, “Did you write that book?” And when I said “Yes,” their eyes would get so big. Working with kids is honestly the best part of being an author.

One of my favorite current books is “Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library.” So when Chris Grabenstein casually strolled up and started chatting with us before the whole event began, I was fangirling like crazy. He humored me (and quite a few others) by letting me take a selfie with him. Not only are his books amazing, but he is, too.

Of course, the local PBS tv station was at the event, so I couldn’t resist taking a picture with the famous Mr. Carson. He is as stiff in person as he is on Downton Abbey (hahaha!). 😉

And when Little Critter came by my table, I had to ask for a picture, because Little Critters by Mercer Mayer are a staple at my house. Even my older kids run over when we’re reading a Little Critters book.

I had such a great time at my first ever book festival (at least as an author). I hope to do this again soon! Have you ever attended a local book festival? What did you think?

 

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authors, book festival, Books by the Bank, Bridget Hodder, Chris Grabenstein, Cincinnati, Dee Romito, Jen Maschari, Jenn Bishop, Laura Martin, Laura Shovan, Little Critters, Lois Sepahban, Mr. Carson, The Last Great Adventure of the PB&J Society

The Truth About Authoring

When I tell people I went on a book tour, I get that look that says they are impressed. That if I’m going on tour, I must have “made it” as an author. A few people dare to dig a little deeper and ask, “So who pays for the tour? You or your publisher?”

And this is where I smile.

So much of what it’s like to be an author is shrouded in mystery. We have old school views of how things work, and when we think “author,” we tend to think Stephen King, or J.K. Rowling, who are anything but typical.

Today I’m going to share what it’s like being a mid-list author. Because the reality is very different than what I always imagined. So below I’m going to answer some of the more common questions I get:

1. Do you get paid for writing a book?

Yes! I most definitely get paid. Buuut, it’s not very much. Numbers vary widely depending on who the author is as well as who the publisher is. 12% of net profits for hardback books, and 25% for ebooks, is pretty common. Especially for a debut author such as myself.

Basically what that means is I get paid less than a dollar per book. So can I retire all my other jobs now that I’ve been published? I really can’t. Maybe if I had enough books out, but “enough” is a questionable number, and it’s higher than you would guess.

2. How is your book doing?

This is a bit of an awkward question. Because honestly, I really don’t know. You would think that as an author I should know. But I don’t. Twice yearly (and for some, this is quarterly), I get what is called a “Royalty Statement.” This statement tells me how many of my books sold (and in what format – hardback vs. ebook) during the 6 months of the reporting period.

So if you caught me at just the right time of year, I could tell you how many of my books have sold (though I probably still wouldn’t), but even that is not an answer to how my book is doing. There are just so many things at play, it’s not an easy answer.

3. Who pays for the tour? You or your publisher?

This really depends on who you are. For me, as a mid-list author of a smaller publisher, I pay for my tours. This is why I have chosen to do tours in places that I have a connection to . . . whether I was already planning to go there, so I set up some book events because I could. Or I used to live there and know there will be people interested in my book. Or maybe I have a friend who lives there and so that gives me a reason to want to go. But in any case, the cost of a book tour is a big deal, because it is all coming from me.

This is why authors who do school visits outside of their home area require travel fees. Because tours take a lot of time and energy and money! And even though I want to promote my book, I also want to spend time with my family and be there for them (not to mention spending time on writing the next book!).

4. Who sets up your school visits, library panels, and other promotional events?

Again, depending on who you are, how big your publisher thinks your book will be, or even the business model of your publisher, your publisher might set up some of these things. For me (and for most other mid-list authors that I know), I set these up.

For the first leg of my tour, I joined a group of authors, and they set up our panels and visits (since I was coming from out of town). But it was up to me to find the group and help with planning for discussion topics, etc. Group author visits are wonderful because you not only share the work load, but you can pull in a larger audience and have someone to talk to in case you don’t have an audience (and yes, that really happens).

The last two legs of my tour, it was up to me to contact schools, teachers, librarians, and bookstores to find those who were interested in having me come. I contacted people I already knew, and this worked great for my first tour, but this won’t always be the case. The art of cold-contacting is something I am learning.

For blog interviews, I have been fortunate enough to be contacted by the bloggers to ask if I was interested in participating. Also, I have a publicist (hired by my publisher) who works to get my book in front of the right readers who can best help spread the word, including to industry reviewers (School Library Journal, Booklist, etc.).

Promoting a book is a lot of work! And since this is not my area of expertise, it has been a steep learning curve. But for me, the reward really comes when I’ve gotten to meet my readers and see the excitement in their faces at meeting a “real, live author.” (Which I still can’t believe means me!)

So wow, this post went a lot longer than I intended, but I hope you have a little bit better idea about what it means to be an author. It’s hard work. It’s a lot more than just writing. The pay isn’t great. But I love what I do so much, and that’s why I keep doing it!

If you have other questions for me, don’t hesitate to ask!

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authors, book tours, mid-list author, promotion, writing

Great Middle Grade Books

One of my favorite parts of becoming an author has been learning about all the other great books that are coming out soon. And even better, I’ve gotten to read a lot of ARCs (Advance Reader Copies). My son has also been taking advantage of this, and he’s gotten to read a lot of them, too. I think I’m going to have him post some reviews in the near future.

But in the mean time, I wanted to share with you some of the amazing middle grade novels that have been and will be released this year.

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Of these 19 books listed above, I have read 16 of them (including my own). You can check out my Goodreads reviews to see what I had to say. But honestly, I have been so impressed! Science Fiction. Fantasy. Mystery. Magical Realism. Historical. Contemporary. Books dealing with loss. Books dealing with change. Books dealing with mysteries. I found kids facing their fears and learning to find their voice.  I found kids trying new things and making hard choices. I could go on and on (for your sakes, I won’t).

There is truly a book for every reader on these posters above! And although we say that middle grade is for kids ages 8 – 12, I disagree. These books are for people of all ages. I have learned so much about myself and about the world around me as I’ve read these stories. They truly are for everyone. I hope you’ll look some of these up and share the ones you love.

So tell me . . . which ones are you most excited for? Or, if you are looking for a book on a certain topic or of a certain genre, please tell me, and I’ll make a recommendation. I just love, love, love hooking up books and readers!

 

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authors, books, Goodreads, middle grade