Blurb:

Since the car crash that took her father’s life three years ago, Emma’s life has been a freaky—and unending—lesson in caution. Surviving “accidents” has taken priority over being a normal seventeen-year-old, so Emma spends her days taking pictures of life instead of living it. Falling in love with a boy was never part of the plan. Falling for a reaper who makes her chest ache and her head spin? Not an option.

It’s not easy being dead, especially for a reaper in love with a girl fate has put on his list not once, but twice. Finn’s fellow reapers give him hell about spending time with Emma, but Finn couldn’t let her die before, and he’s not about to let her die now. He will protect the girl he loves from the evil he accidentally unleashed, even if it means sacrificing the only thing he has left…his soul.

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And here’s the excerpt:

Chapter 1

Finn

Sometimes Emma made me feel so alive, I almost forgot I was dead.

Almost.

I sank down onto the side of her bed, amazed by the blazing wildfire that swept through me whenever Emma was near enough to touch. I took a deep, unneeded breath, and settled down on my side next to her. The mattress didn’t sink. The springs didn’t groan with the weight of an extra body. The distance between us was an impossible void. Inches that might as well have been miles. Miles that left me wanting in so many ways that I ached.

Even the sun couldn’t resist her. Its glowing rays caressed her skin, and stained her hair the satiny color of summer wheat. Before I knew what was happening, my hand followed their lead. Cells ignited. My skin burned, screaming with the agonizing need to touch—

“What do you think you’re doing?”

I jerked my hand away just as Easton melted up from the polished hardwood floor beneath the window. Like an oil slick coming to life, he unfolded his long, shadowy legs until he was just an ink blot against the square of tangerine sunrise behind him. His violet eyes pinned me like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

Which, I kind of was.

“Nothing,” I lied.

“Yeah, looked like nothing.” He strolled across the room accompanied by a wave of sulfur and smoke, the black serpent tattoo on his neck glinting. “What were you planning to do, recite her poem? I swear to God, if you were still alive I’d confiscate your man card.”

I ignored the barb and scrunched up my nose. “Jesus, Easton. Don’t they have a shower somewhere between here and the afterlife?”

“Screw you. You didn’t just have to tow somebody’s grandpa to Hell.” He brushed something chalky and grey off of his cloak and a shudder worked its way down my spine. God only knows who or what it belonged to. “Besides I wasn’t the one about to feel up a sleeping human.”

“I wasn’t—”

“Save it.” He waved his hand. “We have work to do. I don’t have time for your useless obsession with the human today.”

“Will you please stop calling her that?”

“What?” Easton glanced up from Emma’s vanity, where he’d been inspecting the various lotions and bottles like he was on some alien planet. Then again, Easton had been dead for something like four hundred years, so all of her stuff probably was sort of alien to him.

“The human. You make me sound like a freak. It’s not like we’re a different species for God’s sake. We were humans, too, or don’t you remember that far back?”

“Were. Past tense.”

We could have gone back and forth like that for hours, but the call came. It always did. It started in my bones—a cold so cutting that it sliced through me like a machete. When I looked up, Easton’s jaw was clenched, his muscles taut and ready. He slowly closed his hand around the handle of his scythe that burned black and softly smoked at his side. I flexed my fingers as the icy ribbons of death worked their way through each one of my limbs.

“Can you take this one for me?” I asked. “You’re already going to be there, and I just got back—”

“No,” Easton said. “Hell no. I have my own job to do. I can’t keep covering for your sorry ass. Besides, you’re already on thin ice with Balthazar. Don’t push your luck, Finn. Just keep your nose down, collect your souls, and thank the Almighty that you don’t have my job. Now let’s go.”

“Yeah, but…” My eyes returned to Emma. Sleeping. Perfect. Safe.

“For the love of God. She’ll be fine, you pansy.” Easton clamped a hand over my shoulder and dragged me from the bed.

“How do you know?”

He shrugged. “I don’t.”

With that he vanished, consumed in a flash by the keening wails of the damned. The screams beckoned. Clawed at me from the inside out.

Rule one as a seeker: Death doesn’t wait for anyone.

And it sure as hell wasn’t waiting for me now.

Don’t. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed – arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention.  She¹s a military legacy who¹s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know – especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.

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I am a photographer, videographer and video producer of some really great books’ book trailers. I started off as a photographer of everything from portraits to weddings to fine art, but my love for reading navigated me towards young adult and book trailers and now am madly in love with what I do.

2. What kinds of books do you most enjoy reading?

I love books I can get immersed in. I usually read young adult only because that is the core of my work right now. But I love reading and read something every day (mostly emails)! But I will say that a good fantasy/paranormal book always gets my attention.

3. When did you first get interested in photography?

Way too young to remember. My Dad’s always had a camera and taking pictures. Black and white at the time, but pictures that made me fall in love with photography. In high school I took some classes, three out of the two they offered (yes, I took one twice) and was a goner. I did a lot of other photography through high school and college from portraits to wedding photography but book trailers really stuck with me. I get to do everything at once!

4. What drew your interest into the creation of book trailers?

I loved reading and I loved movies, especially if they were book adaptations. When I saw book trailers come around for YA books a few years back I saw an opportunity for ME to adapt or translate books I love. I get to be a mini movie maker and for my favorite reads. How many people can say that?

5. What can an author expect from a VLC Productions book trailer?

I started a boutique video production company a year and half ago and have since been producing book trailers for some of the young adult genre’s best books. I oversee everything from concept to story board to casting and even shoot each trailer myself. I offer something unique to each book; no two book trailers will be alike and I stand by that. As an author once put it, they liked VLC Productions for the “beautiful photography, creativity, an eye for color and texture…”

6. Do you have any trailers you are particularly proud of?

That is a very hard question to answer. I’ll say one of my first book trailers for Beautiful Creatures. It was such a fun trailer to put together and one that still gets a lot of comments which I love reading! Such great international love for that book and trailer!

7. Who are some of your favorite clients to work with?

I LOVE working with everyone and have been SO incredibly lucky to develop great relationships with so many people. I love working with Kami Garcia and Cassandra Clare and of course everyone at Simon & Schuster and Harper Collins. Everyone’s been so great to me!

8. Do you still get excited when you get to work with famous authors?

I get excited to work with ANY authors. Everyone’s famous to me! But yes, when I do get that particular book and author to work with I am definitely giddy for days. I think I was dancing and screaming for weeks when I got news I’d be working on Cassandra Clare’s book. Still pinching myself.

9. What trailers are you working on now?

I just finished CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS and WITHER. And next I’ll be working on a series trailer for Alyxandra Harvey’s Drake Chronicles, which is such a fun read! As well as Hannah Moskowitz’ INVINCIBLE SUMMER and Amy Plum’s DIE FOR ME. I’m really excited to be working on some fun books this year!

10. How can an interested author reach you for additional questions?

Anyone with questions can reach me at vandsmedia@gmail.com. Ask away!

VLC Productions is a boutique book video trailer production company. Boutique doesn’t just mean small. It means we are innovative and creative, tailored to your book and needs. We take our time to find just the right look and feel for your book and always use our own footage and photography to achieve something unique. Something that won’t be seen anywhere else. http://www.vlcphoto.net/

First of all, thank you for having me! I’m always thrilled to represent Entangled and spread the word out about the amazing things we’re doing.

A little about me.I’m an agented YA author in love with all things dark and romantic. After editing professionally in the technical and legal sectors for a few years, I shifted over to fiction and haven’t looked back. Prior to taking the Managing Editor spot at Entangled, I freelance-edited YA manuscripts while working as the Acquisitions Editor for an adult paranormal/fantasy publisher. I now spend my days wrangling Entangled’s publishing schedule, sifting through slush, formatting books, making covers, and editing. Lots and lots of editing.

2 How would you describe the Entangled publishing philosophy ?

In two words, agile and exclusive . We publish only the most compelling stories written by the most intriguing voices. Freshness is key. We also strive to provide readers with what they want, not what NY tells them they should be reading.

This is all made possible by our business model, which allows us more flexibility than traditional publishers without compromising quality, all the while enabling us to pay some of the highest royalty rates in the industry. Everyone from the copyeditor to the editorial director is paid a percentage of sales, so we’re all invested in the success of each book, and to delivering a quality product. If our entire team can’t get behind your book, it won’t make it onto our list.

3 What are some of your favorite books that you’ve read this year?

Honestly, the phenomenal stories that come through our slush pile top my Best of 2011 list. There’s nothing better than sifting through the slush and finding hidden gems. It’s like having my own bookstore in my inbox.LOL And, of course, we’ve bought nearly all my faves, so you guys will get to read them soon!

If I had to pick something outside of my inbox, I’d have to go with Barry Lyga’s BOY TOY, Beth Revis’ ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, Stephanie Perkins’ ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, and Ally Condie’s MATCHED.

4 What are the primary mistakes you see writers make in query process?

There are two huge ones that I see daily.

#1 – Not following the submission guidelines. Seriously. I do NOT open unsolicited attachments. If you send one, expect a form rejection unless we’ve been friends for years, in which case, I *might* ask you to try again

#2 – The query letter itself. You have less than one page to tell me the following:
■ who your characters are
■ why I should care about them/what makes them unique
■ what will happen if your characters fail (the stakes)

That’s it. Your bio means nothing to me unless you’ve been published elsewhere, so feel free to skimp there in favor of telling me more about the book. I highly encourage everyone to research what a query letter looks like BEFORE sending your manuscript out into the world. Agents and editors are conditioned to expect certain information to be conveyed a certain way. If we can’t figure out your query letter, we’re less likely to look at your sample pages.

5 Can you tell us about your particular young adult tastes?

I love edgy contemporary, gritty thrillers, stark dystopian, and dark paranormal/fantasy. Strong romantic elements are a must. Voice is everything to me, so if you have a killer voice, I want to see your manuscript!

On the flipside, I’m tired of the hot-paranormal-boy-falls-for-plain-human-girl storylines. My acquisitions have all turned that trope on its head, and readers are loving it. I also think love triangles need to be handled correctly and add something fresh to the genre, if they’re used at all. I’ve acquired two books with love triangles. Both are different than anything I’ve read.

6 Can you each tell us some of your most wanted submissions?

YA thrillers are hot right now! I’d love to see some of those. I haven’t seen near enough contemporary YA in general, though, and would love to see a lot more. I’d personally love a contemporary where the hero and heroine go from being longtime friends/enemies to more.

7 Can you tell us about Entangled’s young adult line?

Definitely! I’m extremely excited about our burgeoning young adult and new adult lines, which currently feature everything from reluctant necromancers to hot aliens to serial killers. I’m a HUGE dystopian fan, so needless to say, I’m thrilled about the two series we’ll be releasing in 2012. And wait until you guys read the dark, sexy fairytale retelling I’m working on for next Fall. *evil grin* I’d read all of these books over and over again if I had time, they’re that good.

8 What kind of posts will readers and writers find on your blog? 

Entangled is all over the place. Check out our books on the website

( http://www.entangledpublishing.com ), chat with our authors on the blog ( http://www.entangledinromance.com ), follow us on Twitter ( http://twitter.com/#!/entangledpub), and friend us on Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/EntangledPublishing ).

I’ll admit to being the world’s lamest blogger when it comes to sticking to a schedule on my personal blog, but I like to do what I call Craft Quickies ( http://www.heatherhowland.com/category/craft-quickie/ ) and have an ongoing series called YA vs. Adult ( http://www.heatherhowland.com/category/ya-vs-adult/ ). I’m always open to suggestions, so if anyone has something they’d like an editor’s perspective on, hit me up through the contact form on my page! ( http://www.heatherhowland.com/contact/ )

Twitter ( http://twitter.com/#!/HeatherHowland ) is the best way to keep in touch with me, but I can also be found on Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Heather-Howland/157108790971324 ) from time to time.

Award-winning young adult author Heather Howland began editing in the legal, industrial, and technical sectors eight years ago while working as a Production Manager. She has since honed her fiction editing skills as a freelancer and as the former acquisitions editor of a small publisher. A portrait photographer in a former life, Heather’s eye for art lends itself to simplistic, NY-style book covers. She holds a BS in creative writing and psychology, which she channels into her love of dark, romantic fiction.

What’s Next in Young Adult/Teen Fantasy Literature?

Writers and readers of young adult fantasy are trying to answer the same question: What’s the next big creature in fantasy? Over the last few years, we’ve been inundated with vampires, werewolves, and angels. According to USA Today , the answer is mermaids. As a matter of fact, Stephenie Meyer is writing a mermaid series as we speak.

During an interview with Heather Howland , Managing Editor of Entangled Publishing, she told me she’s banking on a fantasy/sci-fi blend. “We think YA Sci-Fi is definitely the next big thing and we’ve acquired accordingly. I think readers still love a thrilling dystopian world, but they’re wanting “more” now. We’re seeing biopunk and/or cyberpunk elements in the queries crossing our desks, as well as aliens. I think readers will love the blend of YA Sci-Fi Entangled has coming in 2012!”

Another theory is that The Hunger Games movie will increase the demand for dystopian the way that Twilight inspired the most recent vampire movement. Shortly after Twilight, we saw the development of vampires on television. Out of that movement, True Blood and the Vampire Diaries (both adapted from a popular book series) have enjoyed the most success.

I actually have another theory on this topic. I believe you may see paranormal take a backseat to superhero fantasy leading the charge. Ordinary people with strange powers in dire situations. Perhaps in a futuristic world like the Hunger Games or just simply part of a dark, urban society. Audiences have always enjoyed comic book movie adaptations and it’s time we see that in literature. One clear example of this is the November 15th release of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. It’s simply the best dystopian I’ve ever read and flows with the theme I suggested.

Stacey O’Neale is a full-time writer and publicist with Entangled Publishing. In addition to this website, she’s also the owner of the blog, Queen of Teen . If you enjoy chatting about books, then you can follow her on Twitter .

 

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Stacey O’Neale is a full-time writer and co-owner of the Young Adult Fantasy Guide . She’s had several articles and book reviews published, but spends most of her writing time on the revisions to her debut young adult fantasy novel. You can read her advice for aspiring writers on her blog The YA Fantasy Freak or you can follow her on Twitter .

 

You write Young Adult fantasy or you are thinking about writing it. This might be tricky seeing as it has probably been a few years since you were a Young Adult. I give you some great advice on how to reach and connect with your target audience.

 

It has been a very long time since I was a young adult but I am still going to give you a little bit of advice on what young adult readers like when it comes to fantasy. Now of course there is no formula for success when it comes to writing in the genre but here are a few of my thoughts and ideas on the subject.

This is a big generalization but I am going to break fantasy down into two different types. The first type often looks at and deals with the various challenges of being a young adult. This could cover friends, high school, dating, and coming of age. The second type deals with the wonder of fantasy and imagination. There are many wonderful books and articles about the first type of young adult fantasy. But in this article I am going to focus on the second type: Sheer fantasy with wondrous worlds and lots of fun and imaginative stuff. It is basically imagination and play.

First off, if you have children in the young adult range you are perfectly positioned to get some wonderful and honest feedback on whether or not your writing is going to be interesting and successful in the age group. So, start reading it aloud to your kids and see what they think about it!

The Difference between young adults and Adults

If you were to ask a young adult or a child what they want for their birthday they might say something like “I want a swimming pool. No, no, two swimming pools! Yeah yeah, two swimming pools one for me and one for my pet dolphin!” An adults response to this might be something like “don’t be silly, you will be lucky to get a plastic tub in the backyard.”

Can you see what happened there? A young adult has an unbridled imagination. He or she dreams and thinks big! And this tends to be suppressed and beat out of us as we become adults. I say to you not to let this happen. As a writer you have absolute and total control and the ability to create anything at all! Think big, think imaginative, and push away those adult thoughts that suppress things as being impractical or silly. Young adults will love you for it!!!

Just let loose and have fun. This is very similar to a little something that comes up early in the first Harry Potter novel and it is something I always remembered. I can’t quote it exactly but it goes something like this. When the school is trying to contact Harry Potter for the first time they send him a letter and it of course doesn’t get to him. So they send another and then another. Eventually they send so many letters that it totally inundates Harry’s family. It is a fun and imaginative little series of events and a good example of thinking fun and big.

So, go ahead and write your letter, then write another and another. Fill up the house with letters and see what happens. Young Adults will love you for it.

Resources:

Looking for more writer’s resources and articles? Check out our list of articles for writers and aspiring writers for help and advice on writing, publishing and more.

And Don’t forget to check out our bookshelf of recommendations for writers!

They drink our blood and doom us to death or even worse to an immortality of angst, hunger, and hiding in the darkness. Yes, they are vampires and we can’t get enough of them! Here we take a look at some of the more popular vampires in books . This article is really fitting in nicely with this moths contest. We are giving away 6 signed copies of books from Melissa de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods Series. If you are a vampire fan or a Melissa de la Cruz fan you might want to sign up: Here

Dracula – The First and creepiest

Of course we can’t start out an article on vampires without naming the vampire that started it all Dracula! If you haven’t read this book can you call yourself a fan of vampires? Dracula

Lestat – sexy and doomed

Over the past century these creatures of the night have had their ups and downs. And for quite a while they were pretty quiet. But this all changed, and they came back into the forefront with the publication of a series of novels by Anne Rice beginning in the 90′s. There are several vampires in the books but the most famous one (who was portrayed by Tom Cruise in the movie) was the Vampire Lestat. It started with: Interview with the Vampire (Vampire Chronicles)

Edward Cullen ( beautiful and enigmatic)

We find an interesting variation on the sexy vampire and discover the real reason why they don’t like the sunlight!

Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)

Damon & Stefan Salvatore from the Vampire Diaries series

Elena: the golden girl, the leader, the one who can have any boy she wants.

Stefan: brooding and mysterious, he seems to be the only one who can resist Elena, even as he struggles to protect her from the horrors that haunt his past.

Damon: sexy, dangerous, and driven by an urge for revenge against Stefan, the brother who betrayed him. Determined to have Elena, he’d kill to possess her.

Collected here in one volume for the first time, volumes one and two of The Vampire Diaries, the tale of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.

Available on Amazon.com The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle

Eric Northman from the True Blood series

Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life-and one of her coworkers checks out…. Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn’t such a bright idea. A fun, fast, funny, and wonderfully intriguing blend of vampire and mystery that’s hard to put down, and should not be missed. (Susan Sizemore)

Available on Amazon.com: Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood)

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The Meyer Effect

There seems to be no shortage of complaints about the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer. She’s not the greatest writer, she contradicts everything we know of vampire lore, her books send out a bad message to young girls about marriage and children, and that’s only naming a few. I suppose with success like hers you’d expect her critics to be harsh, but let’s look beyond the book and really explore the Meyer effect.

Fact #1: Meyer brought teenagers back to the bookstore! It’s an amazing accomplishment considering that book competitors are iPods, text messages, Facebook and Twitter. She brought them in by the droves and now they’re not just reading Twilight books! I talk to readers all the time that say they started off reading Twilight and then moved onto other young adult fantasy authors. Meyer, in many ways, has been the gateway drug that led teenagers to other amazing writers like Cassandra Clare, Melissa Marr, Holly Black, and Scott Westerfeld.

Fact #2: Meyer gave us a new version of tired theme. You may not like her vampires, but you have to admit that they’re original. Vampires in high school that don’t drink blood, sparkle in the sunlight, and want to be human. This goes against everything ever written by Bram Stoker and Anne Rice. Not to mention that none of those books ever appealed to teenagers. You’ve got to give this girl props for giving us a new perspective on both vampires and werewolves.

Fact #3: Teenagers are writing because of Twilight. I know of many readers that got the writing bug after reading the series. They’re tons of websites dedicated to Twilight fan fiction. Young readers writing their own versions of the popular series. Of all the things my daughter could be into, I’d much prefer her interested in creative writing. I couldn’t care less what the subject is, just the fact that she’s writing and using her imagination is enough for me.

I hope you take these facts into consideration before you jump on the hater bandwagon. I’m not a Twihard, but I do consider myself a fan of the series. Do I think she’s the best fantasy writer out there, hmmm no. Do I think that her books could change the world and bring about world peace, emphatically no. But, in my opinion, she does deserve a high five and a little slack from the critics.

Stacey O’Neale is a full-time writer and co-owner of the Young Adult Fantasy Guide . She’s had several articles and book reviews published, but spends most of her writing time on the revisions to her debut young adult fantasy novel. You can read her advice for aspiring writers on her blog The YA Fantasy Freak or you can follow her on Twitter .

Interested in Twilight? We have a whole section devoted to the books. You can also watch trailers and more: Twilight

 

Maybe you can’t really take a ride on a dragon, but you can enjoy some of the wonderful fantasy works that have dragons either as main characters or as central themes to the story. Over the past decades of fantasy there have been some phenomenal works centering around this mythical and magical beast. This is a guide to findind something that you might really love. So strap on your dragon harness and let’s go for a fly!

The differences in dragons

When it comes to dragons you never know what you are going to get. What I mean is that some are dangerous and deadly while others are friendly; yet others are companions and mounts to be ridden through the skies. While all these characteristics change they almost invariably are extremely intelligent and possessing of very long life spans – sometimes a thousand years or more.

Some Famous dragons.

Smaug – the Ultimate early dragon

If we want to look at some of the more famous dragons we really have to start out with Tolkien’s dragon in the Hobbit. It’s name is Smaug and it is the predecessor that all other dragons have been following. Smaug sits in his lair surrounded by a tremendous horde of gold, jewels and treasure and when Bilbo baggins steals one item it is immediately recognized. Apart from this image of a dragon sitting on its hoard of treasure Smaug also loves riddles and has a weakness that it is unaware of. These are some of the now accepted characteristics of dragons and we have tolkien to thank for this. The Hobbit: or, There and Back Again

The unnamed dragon in Ursula K. Leguin’s EarthSea Trilogy.

This series of books is a remarkable read and throughout the series the characteristics of dragons change. They go from greedy, powerful and evil as most dragons up until this time. ANd they change to become wiser, more noble and almost demi-gods. The main dragon in this series does have a name but… to know a dragon’s name is to have power over it! This is a wonderful part of the story and you should really give this a read. A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, Book One)

As time goes on and writers explore the role of dragons they became even more benevolent toward us, even forming a bit of a symbiosis. This idea is very fully explored in a series of books by Anne McCaffrey called The DragonRiders of Pern. McCaffrey set out to absolutely change the image of the dragon. In the Pern books they still breathe fire and fly. But they are friendly and helpful toward humans. Some humans ride dragons (They are called Dragonriders) and the human and dragon form a very strong psychic bond. Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern)

It is from these three early masters of fantasy that dragons were given birth and fleshed out into what we now think of when we think of dragons. Since these books there are now many wonderful books that have dragons as main characters, antagonists, wise cousel and many other roles. Some great examples of dragons in more current works include

Samaranth: A wise eastern style dragon who offers wise counsel to the main characters in the critically acclaimed Here, There Be Dragons (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica)

Another wonderful young adult series with a contemporary tone is the Dragon in our Midst series by Bryan Davis. The series starts with Raising Dragons (Dragons in Our Midst, Book 1)

And it takes the interesting stance that people might hold a secret. Can it be possible that some people are also dragons?

Dragons have had a wonderful almost awe inspiring position in fantasy literature. In the books they are often very long lived and in our literature it is the same. They have changed and developed over the modern decades of the genre yet they still remain creatures that fascinate and intrigue.

Resources

Want to check out more dragon books? We have lots more to choose from here: Dragon Books

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Reflections From my Writing Career by Stacey O’Neale

The end of the year has left me reflecting on my own writing journey. Like most, it’s still ongoing with plenty of bumps and bruises along the way. Some stops I expected and others had me turned completely around. I’ve learned a ton and I’d like to share my experience with you. At the very least you can get an idea of how things work and how they don’t.

 

In September 2009, I completed my first young adult fantasy novel. This was a major high for me. I’d never written a novel before so achieving this goal meant everything. Afterwards, I took a break from writing to query agents and learn about social media. This was about the time I started attending writing conferences and taking online courses.

January and February were two tough months for me because that’s when the rejections started to arrive in my email inbox. I’d say over the next several months I received around 35 total. I imagine taking a bullet would feel similar because you’ve invested so much of yourself into a project and it hurts when the response is negative. This was when I found myself at a crossroads. Do I self publish with hopes that the agents/publishers are wrong, shelve my manuscript and move on to another, or quit writing all together?

I went against all my choices and decided to research. I wanted to understand the agency’s decision to decline my novel. I also wanted to get a better understanding of the YA market. So, I went on Amazon and bought every young adult fantasy novel on the NYT bestsellers list. The next several weeks were all about reading the forty or so books I’d purchased. After my reading, I decided that the agents were right. My book wasn’t that interesting. I’d say I had peeks of interest, but not enough to stand out in the crowded YA fantasy market.

By May 2010, I decided to split my time between an idea I had for a book and a website. Through my research into social media, I found that I needed to create an audience for myself. But, how do you develop an audience if you don’t have a published book? I decided to create a website that catered to all the great books I’d been reading and to aspiring writers like me. I teamed up with my fantasy website Yoda, Will Kalif, to create the YA Fantasy Guide.

We decided the website would feature book reviews and recommendations, literary agents and author interviews, articles about writing, and contests. The biggest surprise of the year came from the popularity of the website which has surpassed even my expectations. We’ve been able to land some amazing interviews and really reach out to fans of our genre. Now I’m getting emails from publicist and agents hoping to get their clients featured on my site.

The end of 2010 left on a positive note. I’ve received interest from several agents regarding my second novel. Nothing’s happened yet, but I’m very encouraged. My message to all aspiring writers is to keep moving toward your dream. For most writers, it takes years. My journey started three years ago. Don’t get discouraged by rejections. Instead, focus on your writing and storytelling. Always strive to get better at your craft. Don’t forget to use the information that’s out there and take part in the writing community. If you take anything out of this post then let it be this: Never Give Up!

You can check out some of my other articles for writers here: http://tinyurl.com/34fechk

 

Stacey is a young adult fantasy writer and blogger.  Her role in the website includes but not limited to book and movie reviews, author interviews, article writer and short story judge.   Stacey also maintains the Fantasy Freak blog attached to the website.  You can follow her on Twitter using twitter name:  YAFantasyGuide.

 

 

RESOURCES

Looking for more writer’s resources and articles? Check out our list of articles for writers and aspiring writers for help and advice on writing, publishing and more.

2010 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market (Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market)

If you write or illustrate for young readers with the hope of getting published, 2010 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrators Market is the resource you need. Whether you create picture books or young adult novels, fiction or nonfiction, books or magazine articles–the 2010 edition tells you who to contact and what to send them.

And Don’t forget to check out our bookshelf of recommendations for writers!