Things are starting to happen fast over here! Braver than Brave has been out in the world for three weeks now, and it got an “Editor’s Pick” flag on Amazon, which is really exciting!
It’s a little fuzzy, but feel free to head on over and see it live for yourself! And if you’ve read it and want to leave a review on Goodreads, or Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, I’d greatly appreciate it. 😁
However, today I’m not on here to talk about Braver Than Brave (as much as I love doing that). Today, I’m on here to share the cover of my next book, A Bad Case of the Almosts! It is set to release on January 1st of 2023, which is not all that far away.
Before I do, I wanted to share a little about how this book came to be. In January of 2020 (yep, just before everything hit), I was participating in a thing called Storystorm, a yearly event hosted by Tara Lazar. Storystorm is all about building your story idea list. Tara Lazar hosts a new author every day who shares an idea for a way to find story ideas. It’s a super fun event with prizes, and such, so if you are a writer, you should join in next year. It’s phenomenal!
So there I was, on the hunt for new ideas, and one of the blog posts had said that titles of other books can be good inspiration for a new story. If you look at just the title, imagine how you would write it, and then you can see if it’s similar or not to the actual book that accompanies that title. You’d be surprised how often the two are not similar at all.
I saw the title “Almost Every Time.” . . . or at least, that’s how I read it. Long story short, that wasn’t the title at all! My eyes had skipped down to the next line, and that combination of words really intrigued me. I thought, what if instead of “Almost Every Time,” it was “Almost. Every Time!”
This character leapt to life. This character who got so close to achieving her wants and her goals, but then didn’t get it. EVERY TIME!! That would be so frustrating! And honestly, I could kind of relate. Except not kind of. I could SUPER relate.
That’s how I felt about my attempts to sell another picture book. I’d had multiple books go to multiple acquisitions meetings, and some amazingly wonderful rejections (yes, they really can be wonderful), but it felt like I couldn’t quite get past that last step. It was “Almost” EVERY TIME.
This book took a bit more brainstorming, but when I dared show it to my critique groups, I was surprised at their enthusiasm. I guess they understood that feeling, too. And I was surprised at my agent’s enthusiasm (you know, after some revision rounds). And I was surprised at how quickly my editor at Capstone was able to get it through acquisitions. Because she understood the feeling, too.
So without further ado, I share the cover of A Bad Case of the Almosts, featuring the beautiful artwork of Alexandra Colombo who really brought Abby, my main character who is a huge science enthusiast, to life. And if you like the cover, I can’t wait for you to see what she did with the art inside!
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A Bad Case of the Almosts is now available for preorder at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as most places books are sold. You can also add it to your “Want To Read” list on Goodreads to be notified when it comes out.
And for all you book reviewers out there, an ARC (Advance Reader Copy – for those wondering) is also now available on NetGalley!
Today is my picture book cover reveal!!!
I feel like I say this a lot, but being an author is like constantly riding a rollercoaster, full of ups and downs. There is a ton of rejection, but there are also moments that make your heart flutter. Seeing your cover for the first time is one of those.
With my middle grade cover, I knew that the cover was the only image I was going to get for my book. But with a picture book, the cover is a hint at all the lovely things to come! Thirty-two pages of beautiful, glorious pictures that represent someone’s vision of this world I created.
My debut picture book, HELP WANTED: MUST LOVE BOOKS, will be released into the world on March 1, 2020! I can’t wait for you all to see the whole thing (I just love it!), but in the meantime, here is a hint of things to come. The promise of a story that makes my heart happy. I hope it will make yours happy, too.
The illustrator is the amazing Courtney Dawson. You should follow that link to see her amazing art work! She’s so talented!
So without further ado . . .
just
follow
the
little
dots
and
ta da!!!
…
…
…
…
my cover!!!
I hope you love it as much as I do! Shailey turned out so perfect, and I love, love, love that you can read the titles on a bunch of those books on the bookshelf. The colors are so fun, and that title font (!!!). *happy sigh*
Thanks for stopping by, and I’d love to hear about what grabs your attention when looking at covers.
Help Wanted: Must Love Books is up on Goodreads, so feel free to add it to your “Want to Read” list!
And holy cow! Just this second I discovered that it’s also live on Amazon, which means you can now pre-order it!! (no cover there yet, but AAAAHHHH!) [And just so you know, this would be another one of those exciting moments I was talking about at the beginning that makes your heart flutter.]
Today is the day!!!
The happy-dancing, random-screaming, exclamation-filled day that is otherwise known as my COVER REVEAL day!!
So one interesting tid-bit before you head over to Pop! Goes The Reader to see what it looks like (finally!!!) . . .
A secret I’ve been holding for a while is that Amazon has a picture of my book on its site. BUT it IS NOT THE FINAL COVER. No. You have to got to Pop! Goes The Reader for that. I don’t know when it will be fixed to the final cover, but if you want to see what the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) cover looks like, you can check out Amazon, too. (And eeep! If you happen to want to pre-order it, it’s now available for pre-order!)
Okay, okay, I will detain you no longer! Go forth! Check out my beautiful book cover that I’m totally in love with at Pop! Goes The Reader.
And while you’re there, don’t forget to enter for a chance to win an ARC of THE LAST GREAT ADVENTURE OF THE PB&J SOCIETY by moi, Janet Sumner Johnson.
Not quite two years ago, my blogging friend and I exchanged manuscripts. I knew hers was a novel-in-verse, but I didn’t know quite what to expect. Well. Let’s just say, I was blown away. Blown!
That, of course was a draft of Amy Sonnichsen’s RED BUTTERFLY. It was touching and delicate. Beautiful and surprising! I still think about this story. And even though Amy didn’t have an agent at the time, I knew it wouldn’t be long.
Last Summer it was picked up by Simon & Schuster, Books for Young Readers, and is slated for publication in Winter 2015. And I’m THRILLED to be part of her cover reveal! Go Amy!! [And I’m sure she’d love it if you stopped by her blog, The Green Bathtub, to congratulate her!]
So first, the book blurb:
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And because I love this book so much, I want to give away a pre-order of it! Just enter in the Rafflecopter below, and feel free to spread the word. This contest is open to US and Canada addresses, and will close June 27th at midnight EDT. Best of luck!
Congratulations, Amy! I’m so excited for you and your beautiful book.
This is my normal posting day, but I’m kind of excited, because Amy Sonnichsen is having her cover reveal this week for RED BUTTERFLY, and I get to be part of it!
Sooooo, I need ya’ll to come back here on Friday, June 6 to see Amy’s beautiful cover. It’s beautiful guys. And perfectly perfect! I can’t wait for you to see it, and I even more can’t wait for you to read it. Will Winter of 2015 never come?!! 🙂
I’m so in love with this book, I just can’t even . . . yeah. I can’t.
See you on Friday! and P.S. if you aren’t following Amy on twitter, you seriously should be. She tweets here: @alsonnichsen
I know, I know. I’m here AGAIN this week. But when my uber-talented friend, Leigh T. Moore, invited me to be part of her cover reveal for Rouge, well, it was a no-brainer. So without further ado:
Ta daaa!!! Isn’t it awesome?!! Congratulations Leigh! So very excited for you. 😀
Set to be released Nov. 11, here’s the blurb:
A New Orleans chanteuse must decide
between saving herself (and her young charge) from the brothels by
marrying her well-heeled suitor, or following her heart and marrying a
poor stagehand.
And if you haven’t gotten to know Leigh yet, here’s where you can learn more about her: