Guesting at ADR3NALIN3 Blog!

Today, I'm guest posting for my friend and fellow author, Carol Tanzman at the writing blog, ADR3NALIN3.  She is a regular contributor to the blog, which is a fun and inspiring resource for readers and writers. The authors involved specialize in mysteries and thrillers but their posts address all kinds of issues that most writers face: writer's block, world-building, character development, and so on.

Carol has a new YA novel, "dancergirl," which is currently out from Harlequin Teen.  It's a fast-paced thriller about a dancer whose online life attracts a real-life stalker!  Check it out at your local store or here at Amazon: dancergirl.  Her next book will be out in July, another YA thriller titled, "Circle of Silence."

My post is about turning off the internet and turning on your focus.  Thanks, Carol, for asking me to guest post for you!

So here is it - my post about writing and the internet: I’m not addicted.  I can quit anytime I want to.

Guest blog: Sean McCartney

Hi everyone! Sean McCartney is a debut novelist whose book, "The Treasure Hunters Club: Secrets of the Magical Medallions" released July 6. He's on a blog tour to promote the novel and to introduce himself to the blogging/reading world. His website, by the way, is terrific so do check that out! And be sure to take a look at his book's trailer which is at the bottom of this post! Looks like fun...

Without further ado, here is Sean to tell us all about himself and his book:

First off I would like to thank Leigh for allowing me to talk with all of you. This is my first blog so it is quite exciting for me.

My name is Sean McCartney and I’m currently on a blog tour to promote my new young adult action adventure novel entitled THE TREASURE HUNTERS CLUB: SECRETS OF THE MAGICAL MEDALLIONS. It’s being released on July 6^th, 2010 from Mountainland Publishing.

The story is about Tommy Reed and his treasure hunting friends Shannon McDougal, Jackson Miller and Chris Henderson. One day Tommy receives a rather ordinary looking medallion from his very famous treasure-hunting uncle “Diamond” Jack Reed and finds himself the object of an evil treasure collector named Manuel de la Ernesto. Now Tommy and his friends must find the secret behind the medallion before Manuel can get to them and the medallion.

When I set out to write The Treasure Hunters Club: Secrets of the Magical Medallions I wanted to pull together all the things from books and movies that I liked. The mystery of the Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown, the adventure of Percy Jackson, a little magic from Harry Potter and the action and history of the movies Indiana Jones and National Treasure.

Though this is the first book in the Treasure Hunters Club series, with your help to make it a success, the next books will follow. I have planned six treasure hunting books as they follow the club through the 8^th grade and into high school. Of course, as they get older their treasure hunts get more dangerous and more exciting.

I have been asked why I created a series around treasure hunting. The truth is I believe treasure hunting is something everyone can do. You don’t need super powers just a desire to do research and find where to look. Also treasure hunting touches on the sidebars of history, the stuff not in the textbooks. That is usually the most interesting and provides a solid building block for the series.

My goal has always been to be published and have a series that kids can enjoy and have a lot of fun reading. I was lucky to find a publisher who believes in the series as much as I do. What I was surprised to find out was how much the publishing world has changed since I started this journey toward “being published.” The emergence of ebooks has shaken the publishing world like never before and I believe we have only scratched the surface of what this new technology can do to help promote reading.

In the meantime, I hope you take a moment to check out my website www.treasurehuntersclubbook.com and learn more about the series and read some short stories about the characters.

Thank you again for this opportunity and allowing me to be here and I hope you enjoy the book and the series.

Thanks,

Sean

And thank you, Sean! I am a huge fan of the National Treasure movies so this sounds right up my alley. I hope you all enjoyed reading a bit about Sean and his book and that you'll jump right over to his website to learn more. And check out the trailer below to inspire you to read (or hunt for some treasure yourself!):

My guest blog and a chance to win some stuff!

Hi everyone! Here's the post I wrote about celebrations, how it's important to celebrate all our milestones and not merely the "big ones, at Everything To Do With Books:

Celebrations!

And if you comment on your favorite holiday, you can win books, swag, etc.! All month long, Rebecca and Scarlett will be giving away lots of goodies so be sure to keep reading there.

Cheers and happy blogoversary!

Celebrating book blogging!

It's a Book Blog Extravaganza over at Everything to Do With Books!

The lovely and talented YA bloggers, Scarlett and Rebecca, are celebrating their blogoversary during the month of March, giving away books and swag and offering all kinds of cool guest blogs - including one from me! Look for it there on Wednesday, March 3rd.

I love to celebrate milestones such as anniversaries and birthdays, especially when it comes to stuff on the web. How often do you see people or companies announce a huge website or blog launch, post all new content every day for a month - and then completely stop? Happens all the time. I'm so leery of subscribing to new blogs these days. I get hooked, only to have them disappear after a few months. Yeah, it's hard work keeping up a blog or a website, difficult coming up with new material all the time. That's why it's so important to recognize when people are doing a great job!

Congrats on the blogoversary, Scarlett and Rebecca!

Guestblog at Harmony Book Reviews!

Today, I'm guest blogging at the fantastic Harmony's blog, Harmony Book Reviews.

My post: "When Characters Blog"

Check it out! You might learn a few things you didn't know...

Thanks for having me, Harmony!

Contest and Guest blog...

...at In Bed With Books!

Check it out.

Read. The blog.

Comment. As directed.

Win. A signed hardcover of LOVE, MEG.

Easy-peasy.

Guest blog: Chandra Rooney

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I'm so excited to introduce my friend, author Chandra Rooney, whose debut novel "The Tarot Cafe Novel: The Wild Hunt" (TokyoPop) is available now - yes, right now! If you can't find it in your local store, definitely check out Amazon or Barnes & Noble on-line.

Chandra's book was a work-for-hire, which is something I'm not familiar with. When I asked her about writing a guest blog, this seemed like a natural jumping off point. So here is Chandra's insightful guidance on the differences between writing a book for an existing property and writing an original manuscript.

Thank you so much for stopping by, Chandra! Happy Release Day!

When Leigh and I were discussing a possible guestblog, she mentioned wanting to know more about how the work-for-hire process compares to standard publishing. Confession: My only editorial experience so far with standard publishing has been a short story in On Spec magazine and agent revisions. Let’s just be upfront that my comparison is based on what Leigh and other authors have told me of their experiences.

To illustrate the difference between work-for-hire and standard publishing, let me use the analogy of fine art and graphic design. What most people will tell you the difference between the two is one is “artistic” and one is “commercial.”

The fundamental difference is, however, is that fine art is largely about its creator—an expression of a personal opinion and Self. Graphic design is about the client who hires the designer—an expression of an opinion and Self outside of the creator. The artist is a messenger.

Messengers are important, because without them you wouldn’t get the message, but if you haven’t heard the old saying "don’t shoot the messenger," then you should ask Leigh to explain it. ;)

Seriously, though, the editorial process for both a standard novel and a work-for-hire project are largely the same. Submission of draft, revision, line edits, galleys, final revision pass, etc.

A difference between my experience and Leigh’s experience is that I didn’t have a copy-editor. The copy-editing was done by myself and my editor, but that’s not necessarily a work-for-hire difference so much as it is a reflection of small press versus mainstream publishing.

What is different is when the manuscript is written. With standard publishing, there is usually a completed manuscript before the editorial process happens. Even with series work, the first novel (and possibly the second) is finished before the author ever has an editor.

When you do a work-for-hire, there is no existing manuscript. It’s written after you sign the contract. Also, the editor has a lot more creative control over what goes into the novel.

The reason for this is the second difference: ownership. With a work-for-hire novel, the end product doesn’t belong to the author. It belongs to the people who hired her. For example, with The Wild Hunt, it’s Sang Sun Park and TOKYOPOP who own the copyright. This is because the novel uses characters and a world already created by Park through her comic series.

Why does it matter who owns the novel? Without getting into a discussion on intellectual property and copyrights, the easiest answer is that whoever owns the novel is going to make the money off it. Cold hard cash is something we can all understand, right?

With a standard novel, a writer is paid an advance towards the royalties that the sales department believes the book will earn. It’s like a loan that pays itself out. (Hopefully!) In work-for-hire, there aren’t usually royalties. Instead, the author is paid a writer’s fee. The positive side of this is that so long as the author meets her contract requirements, she will get that money regardless of how well the book sells. The downside is that she won’t receive any additional money if the book becomes a best-seller.

All of this is really just the business of publishing. It’s the background work that a reader never sees or probably even wonders about, because a book on the shelf is a book on the shelf—especially when it has your name on the spine.