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The Skylark Trilogy is Complete…
Oct 01, 2014
Order your copy of Lark Ascending:
Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Today was the release of the final book in my Skylark trilogy, Lark Ascending. Any book launch is a hugely emotional thing—years of work boiling down into one single day, when you send this thing you’ve created out out of your blood and your tears into the world to sink or swim on its own. But releasing the end to a trilogy is even weightier for me, even more overwhelming. I first started telling this story over five years ago and when I think back to where I was five years ago, it’s astonishing how much in my life has changed.
Back then I had just decided to try, really try, for the first time, to fulfill my dream of becoming a writer. I had the support of my family, my friends, and my soon-to-be co-author, Amie Kaufman; I had the knowledge gained from the six-week fiction-writing crash course Odyssey; and I had a nagging idea for a world and a character that wouldn’t leave me alone. I had my ideas and I had my keyboard, and all I really wanted was a chance to see where they’d take me.
Five years later… now, by the end of this year, I’ll have five books on the shelves. I’ve moved countries twice, moved states, attended conferences I never thought I’d get to attend, met and signed with authors—fellow authors!—I’d always dreamed of meeting, and received letters and emails from fans around the world that never stop amazing me, never stop reducing me to a blubbering, emotional blob on the floor. I still wake up at least once a week thinking “…I’m an author. That all actually happened. Is this really my life?”
And yes, there’s bad with the good. This is a rough, rough industry, not for the faint of heart. It’s impossible to come through five years of it totally unscathed.
But, at the end of the day, the most important things haven’t changed. I’ve still got my friends, my family, the support network that lets me keep doing this. And I’ve still got my ideas, and I’ve got my keyboard, and I’ve still got my chance to see where they take me from here. And that’s all I need.
Order your copy of Lark Ascending:
Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository
Rather than write a long(er) reflective post about today, I will just put here what I wrote at the end of my acknowledgments in Lark Ascending:
I was on my way back from a book festival the other day and I finally realized why these acknowledgments were such a struggle for me: I wasn’t thanking who I really wanted to thank. Though Skylark certainly wasn’t written in a vacuum, it was written privately; and, to a certain extent, Shadowlark was as well. But by the time I got to the third book in this trilogy, I wasn’t writing it just for me anymore, or even for me and my publisher.
I was writing it for you.
You, who stays up late at night, reading by flashlight. You, who write to me after you finish each book. You, who I’ve never met, and perhaps never will meet, but for a few shared moments spent in this book. It’s your enthusiasm for this story and these characters that has kept me going and pushed me to finish this trilogy. I couldn’t have done it without you. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
So thank you.
Signed copies: Australian edition!
Dec 08, 2013
So as some of you guys may know, I was recently in Australia for the launch there of THESE BROKEN STARS. And it was crazy fun—check out the crowd! In addition to having a blast at the party, Amie and I made the rounds to a number of Melbourne bookstores to sign stock with the help of our fabulous Aussie publisher, Allen & Unwin. So, that means that if you’re in Australia and would like a signed copy of THESE BROKEN STARS, these are the places to order from!
Just be sure to check with them that they’ve still got signed stock, when you order. (Read more…)
The week of the traveling dress!
Dec 02, 2013
So, you know that cover? The one with the stars, and the red hair, and the green dress? Yeah, THAT dress? Well, that cover was created via an actual live photo shoot. And the gorgeous girl in that photoshoot was wearing a dress custom-made for the cover. So you know what that means, right? That dress exists. It’s a real thing. I can vouch for this fact—I have held it! I have stroked it lovingly. I can testify to its insane volume and length.
You do not want to be shipwrecked wearing this dress. (Read more…)
Tumblr!
Nov 17, 2013
Hi folks! I’ve just recently joined Tumblr—I know, I know, I’m basically the last person left not already on that thing. But it’s proving great for sharing little things, things that are fun but not exactly worth writing an entire blog post about. I haven’t yet decided whether my Tumblr will replace my full-sized blog, but for now I’ll be most active there while reserving this space for bigger announcements and things that take more space to say! (And it will remain the home of In Search of the Write Space for now, as well!)
One thing to note is that I’ve moved my “ask a question” feature over to Tumblr. You can ask all your questions there now, and I’ll be answering the unanswered questions in my queue there instead of here. So if you’ve asked a question and haven’t gotten an answer yet, follow me on Tumblr to watch for the response! (Or if you think I’ve missed your question altogether, you can ask it again there by hitting the “ask me” button.)
So, if you’re on Tumblr too, look me up! I’m hoping to do some brand new contests over there as soon as I’ve gotten settled.
THESE BROKEN STARS Pre-Order Campaign!
Nov 14, 2013
Ever since we revealed the cover of THESE BROKEN STARS back in February, you guys have been telling us how much you covet it. (Don’t worry, we do too. We are super grateful to our cover designer, Whitney Manger, and our photographer, Tom Corbett!) Well, we’ve been passing along your praise and wishes to our publisher, and because they’re awesome, they listened!
Introducing: the THESE BROKEN STARS poster!
Giveaway Roundup!
Nov 09, 2013
Hi guys! Though I don’t do a regular roundup (I wish I had the energy/time for that, because I love them!) there are enough contests and freebie promotions for my books floating around that I wanted to put them all in one place for you. That way, you can just click through them all and enter! Monday begins the official blog tour for THESE BROKEN STARS, so blog posts, tweets, and other social media will be flying every which way. I wanted to give you guys a heads up before all that starts!
FREE AUDIO BOOK
THESE BROKEN STARS is now up on Audible, which means that by signing up for Audible now, you can get TBS for absolutely nothing when it comes out. Pre-order by clicking here! Plus, once you’re a member of Audible, you can get audiobooks for cheaper alongside ebook versions. Nothing like being able to switch back and forth from text to audio at the touch of a button. (Also: If you’d like to hear a sample of the audiobook, check out our most recent newsletter for the first ten minutes.) (Read more…)
All KINDS of Sneak Peeks!
Oct 29, 2013
Hey guys! As some of you know, I have a newsletter with my fabulous co-author, Amie Kaufman. On it we do share news about our books, but we also include articles about the industry, interviews with other professionals like editors, agents and other authors, and behind the scenes glimpses. This month, though, we’re going to have an absolute doozy of a newsletter. So we wanted to let you know, in case you wanted to subscribe and get the cool stuff!
Firstly, we are going to be sharing the first ten minutes of the THESE BROKEN STARS audio book, from Listening Library, with our subscribers! Guys, let me tell you, this is like no audio book I’ve heard before. I’m not just saying that because it’s mine—it really is unique. They hired not one, not two, but THREE narrators–one for Lilac, one for Tarver, and one for the interrogator between scenes. And the narrator for Tarver, Johnathan McClain, emailed us to let us know how much fun he had, and told us that he actually got to be in the recording booth with the interrogator during those scenes, and that it was more like a play than a narration. COOL, right?
Secondly, and perhaps the only thing even more exciting than the audiobook sample, is that we are announcing the title of book two in the Starbound Trilogy! (Plus, a little tidbit as to what the book will be about.) It’s been a closely-guarded secret for over a year (yes, we knew the title even then) but we’ve finally gotten the go-ahead to share it. So, tune in for the newsletter next week. As promised, it’ll be a doozy.
Subscribe to the newsletter!
Reviewer Appreciation Giveaway!
Oct 14, 2013
Howdy, all! Now that SHADOWLARK is out in the world, I’ve decided to take a page from Jodi Meadows‘ book and spend some time thanking and encouraging the awesome people who review books. Online reviews are vitally important–they help books stand out in an incredibly crowded market, and they help other readers find books they think they’d like.
For the next month, anyone who reviews SHADOWLARK on a booksellers’ page will be entered to win the signed Skylark book of their choice OR a pre-order of THESE BROKEN STARS! And everyone* who participates will receive some Skylark and Starbound swaggy goodness in the mail. How’s that for a deal? Signed bookmarks, postcards, tattoos, the works!
The grand prize is absolutely open internationally, but only US residents will get the swag in the mail for reviewing. International postage is insane, y’all!
A few rules:
- I’m accepting four different booksellers in this contest: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Books a Million. You can enter the contest by reviewing on only one of these sites, but each additional site you hit increases your odds of winning!
- You may use the same review on every single site, just copy/pasted. No need to write four different reviews.
- Only reviews for SHADOWLARK will enter you in this particular contest. (I.e., SKYLARK reviews will be much loved but not enter you for the drawing/swag.)
- Each review must be at least 100 words. This is just to stop one-sentence spam entries. For reference, the first two paragraphs of this blog post are more than 100 words.
Please note that you can say whatever you truly feel about the book! I will not take the content of the review itself into consideration when choosing a winner–the winner will be chosen by random drawing. I’m not asking for glowing raves–only honest opinions can help other readers decide whether they want to give a book a try!
Giveaway!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
* I’ve set aside a chunk of fun stuff to send out, and everyone who enters will get some in the mail until I run out. I’m not anticipating running out, but you never know! So move quickly!
SHADOWLARK blog tour starts TODAY!
Sep 23, 2013
Hey, team! The SHADOWLARK blog tour, arranged by the lovely Jessica at Step Into Fiction, starts todaaaay! What does that mean? Well, every weekday (and one Saturday!) for the next two weeks there’ll be another peek at the sequel to SKYLARK, through interviews, guest posts, reviews, and sneak peeks. And in each and every post, you’ll have a chance to win a book. On top of those individual chances, there’s a grand prize which you can enter for by visiting each of the posts during the tour, scavenger-hunt style.
Sound like fun? Here’s the schedule of where SHADOWLARK is going to be over the next two weeks! I’ll be updating each link to go directly to the Shadowlark post, so be sure to check back. For now, check out a sneak peek of the beginning of SHADOWLARK over at Xpresso Reads! (Read more…)
Ask a Question (#7): What’s in store for the sequel to THESE BROKEN STARS?
Sep 16, 2013
It’s been a long time since I did an “Ask a Question,” but Amie and I have been getting this question a LOT, so I wanted to put an answer front and center!
Annabel P. (and others) asked, “I just finished reading THESE BROKEN STARS (omg so goodddd) but I’m wondering about the sequel. It says that it’s the first in a trilogy, but book one wraps up so well, what’s going to happen in book two?”
That’s extremely perceptive of you! We actually wrote THESE BROKEN STARS to be a standalone novel. The Starbound series is not a traditional trilogy, following the same characters in one linear plot. Each of the three books will focus on a new pair of characters, and their individual stories.
So these books are actually more like companion novels than direct sequels. They all take place in the same universe, and they actually do happen in chronological order. We designed the whole story so that the things that happen in book two couldn’t have happened without the things that happen in book one, and so on. So each of the books will build on the one(s) before it, BUT, you can also read them separately with no real drawback except spoilers. (And don’t worry… there is a very distinct possibility you might see a familiar face or two in the other books!)
We love trilogies, of course, but we also love being able to read a book and have it be finished and completely satisfying in one shot, too. So with the Starbound series, we’ve aimed for the best of both worlds!
THESE BROKEN STARS is available for pre-order from your
favorite online or local bookseller. Snag your copy now!
IndieBound | Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble
Do you have a question you’d like me to answer about books, publishing, or anything else? Ask it here, and enter my monthly drawing to win a prize pack of signed swag!
To see more questions I’ve answered, click here.