Release Blog Tour: SLEEPER by S. M. Johnston

I am so blessed to have awesome online besties like Sharon laying around. Sharon answered a call I made years ago to find readers for Breakable when it was still Listen to Me. Through that we've ended up reading for each other, blogging together, and generally having a riotous good time on Twitter. (Yes, I do riot on occasion. It's been known to happen. Don't judge).

Anyway, when I heard her debut, Sleeper, was finally coming out, I jumped at the chance to interview Sharon about the book so you can know more about it too! This is a truly unique concept, expertly delivered, and despite it's Sci-Fi roots, it's compelling to a die-hard romance fan like me.

Read on - especially if you like speculative fiction!

Okay, Sharon, welcome to Living the Write Life! To kick this off, give us some idea what Sleeper is about, and who you think will most enjoy it?

Sleeper is about a girl, Mishca, who meets two boys, one she genuinely likes (Ryder) and one that she loves the moment she sees him and doesn't know why (Colin). But it also has cool speculative fiction twists with a heart transplant triggers super powers that Mishca tries to keep secret as she's worried about being a science experiment freak. It's her journey to finding out the truth behind her powers and her love for Colin. 

I think anyone who enjoys trying to solve an intricate mystery will love this as well as people that love romance. Even though it's got a Science Fiction/Paranormal bent, it's more Fi than Sci.


What was the inspiration for SLEEPER? How has the protagonist, Mischa, developed since your initial idea?

Originally, it was meant to be Mishca and Colin's love story, but I quickly realised that they had a doomed love that would never work, so along came Ryder. Originally Mishca struggled with her situation a lot more, but my mentor, Angela Slater, showed me I need a MC who wasn't a sad-sack-syndrome sufferer. She became a lot stronger and it really improved the story and Mishca's character ARC.


Do you have a favorite scene, or theme in the book?

My favourite scene is "caught in my bra in my boyfriend's car" where Mishca decides to play show'n'tell to explain her heart transplant to her boyfriend Ryder. Unfortunately her dad sees this and thinks something else is going on. It was actually inspired by something that happened to me. I had a boyfriend giving me a kiss goodbye and my dad yelled out "Get your tongue out of my daughter's mouth!" My boyfriend crapped himself and made a quick exit. Unlike Mishca's dad, I found my dad crying with laughter at the outcome. 


You’ve had a long road to publication. Tell us a little about your journey and your publisher. How much control did you / do you have over the final product?

When I first wrote SLEEPER, I had never heard of New Adult. I put some of it on a site called Inkpop, which was like a crowd-sourcing site run by HarperCollins. I called the story Mishca then and it quickly rose through the ranks and was the most successful Australian story on the site. I've  a talent scout represent me and an agent, but neither of those situations worked out. I've had other agents interested, which included a request for a rewrite to make it YA. I did that and it ended up with Entranced on the basis of that version. When I let them know there was a NA version as well they asked to see it and wanted to publish that one as they felt it was more inspired. Entranced are fantastic to work with. I had so much editorial control.


Do you have any advice for writers considering independent press?

Independent press are more willing to publish the left-of-centre stories. So if you've been having trouble landing an agent, you could try small press. With Entranced I got a lot of support with publicity and my cover is amazing. I realised that I wasn't confident with self publishing at this point in my career as I wanted to work with a publishing team, and that's what I got with Entranced. Every step of the way is covered. SLEEPER and the TOY SOLDIER SERIES won't be the only novels I will publish with small press. 


Is there anything you wish you’d known before you got published? Anything you’d do differently or tell others to consider?

I did a lot of research, so I knew what I was getting myself in to. What I've learnt the most along the way was finding the balance between listening to others and staying true to my vision. You need input from others as often they will find things in your story that you can't see because you're just too close to it. Work on your story, have multiple eyes look at it, and make sure they're not just friends and family. You need people in publishing - editors or authors - to be reading your work. I'm blessed to have beta readers who are industry professionals, but I still paid to have a professional edit.

Although I found a home for me first novel, I know many authors who didn't. Be prepared to let a project go if you need to and move on. 


What has been your favorite moment in your journey so far?

Finding a home for Sleeper, knowing that someone saw the merit in publishing my work. I actually got the offer for SLEEPER quite quickly after I sent through the full. It was a matter of days, which I know is rare. But for me it was a great validation of the belief I had in myself - someone else shared it too. I jumped around like a crazy woman when I got the offer. 

Intrigued? You should be. But if you need more, take a look at the blurb and cover below:

A new heart should mean new life, not a living nightmare.

Mishca Richardson’s life is at an all-time high after her heart transplant. With new boyfriend, Ryder, the two of them have the perfect summer romance. Even the nightmares that have been plaguing her sleep since her operation can’t dull the high she’s on.

Things start to unravel as Mishca develops superhuman abilities. She does her best to hide them so as not to end up a science experiment in a lab. But she can’t ignore the instant attraction she experiences when she meets her university professor, Colin Reed.

Torn between the blossoming love and the obsession, Mishca must decide if she wants Ryder or Colin. But the organization responsible for her changes and her connection to Colin, is moving to secure Mishca for himself so that she can be the weapon he always intended her to be. If Mishca can’t resist her programming she’ll have a lot more to worry about than romance.

Buy it now on Amazon, or check out the reviews on Goodreads!

YA Author, Beth Pond, On Tackling Book Research

Confession: As a 7-year-old, I dreamed of being an Olympic pairs figure skater. I loved the grace of the female skaters, how they were lifted and thrown, how they spun. I loved it all. When I told my mom and my figure skating coach my wish to try pairs figure skating, they couldn’t contain their amusement. I was already as tall as my coach and was still growing. Sure I was coordinated and had strong legs, but I definitely did not have the build of a figure skater.

I took figure skating lessons for another year, but ultimately went on to compete in a variety of other sports. Still, I loved skating, and I loved the Winter Olympics. In fact, it was the 2006 Torino Olympics that first inspired my novel Podium Finish. As interesting as the sports were, I found the athletes’ life stories even more fascinating.

While I knew what it felt like to win and lose, how much it hurt to break a bone, and though I had some idea of what it meant to train twice a day multiple days a week, I realized very quickly that I didn’t really know what it was like to be an Olympic hopeful, nor did I know that much about the winter sports I wanted to write about. This meant one thing: I had to do research.

GET ORGANIZED

The first thing I did was buy a 3 ring binder and dividers. I wanted to research 5 sports, so each sport had its own section. I made lists of the things I didn’t know, starting with a bulleted list of broad topics such as rules, gear, or training, and then started writing specific questions.

I also made “character sketches.” So much of what drew me to wanting to write about the Olympics in the first place were the different life stories of the athletes. This notebook was a good place to develop their character and plotlines before I even started writing.

GET ANSWERS

The internet was a great resource for answers, especially my questions about ice dance. Image searches helped with ice dance costume ideas for Alex’s character. The images were also helpful for when I needed to explain certain body positions.

I watched footage from different skating competitions, always making sure I had a pen and paper at hand. Watching skating competitions gave me a feel for how the skaters moved and acted. Plus, televised skating competitions have sportscasters, some of whom were skaters themselves. They explain what is going on for an audience of non-experts. They make skating accessible to those who have never skated before. This is similar to what an author does, so it was incredibly useful to hear how the sportscasters described the rules and routines and borrowing their jargon added a sense of authenticity to the book.

Nonfiction books are another great source of information. I read several autobiographies of athletes from various winter sports. These books captured the hard work, sacrifice, and daily struggles of an Olympian. Plus, they answered questions I didn’t even know I had. Turning to autobiographies has also proven helpful in the research I’m doing for another manuscript I am currently working on. This story involves various medical components—comas, organ transplant, hospital regulations, etc.—and while some of this information is on the internet, autobiographies give a closer and more insightful look, because they tell of a more in-depth personal experience.

GET TO KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

It’s important to know your market. Where does your book fit?

The best way to figure this out is to read other books in the genre. When I was writing Podium Finish, there weren’t many other young adult books out there that dealt with winter sports, let alone the Olympics, so my work offered something new. However, there were some wonderful young adult books that had sporty female protagonists, such as Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Dairy Queen series and Miranda Kenneally’s Catching Jordan. Know what’s out there. Know what these authors do well and see if your book has these elements. Sometimes doing book research involves improving your craft.

GET MORE FROM PEOPLE WHO KNOW

Initially, I had intended for the book to take place in Torino, as this was what sparked the premise of Podium Finish in the first place, but an agent told me that using a real Olympic location would date the book. She recommended I change the location to some place real, but a place that had not recently hosted/was not scheduled to host the Olympics. I had traveled to Iceland in 2010 and was able to use bits and pieces of that experience in the book.

After reading and scouring the internet, I still had some unanswered questions, so I contacted some Olympians and Olympic hopefuls. I emailed them explaining that I was doing research and asked if they would have time to answer a few questions for me. I had some wonderful responses. I wanted my book to portray their sports as accurately as possible. The accuracy was something important to the athletes too. I was writing about sports that most people only pay attention to every four years, so this was a way to get the athletes’ voices out there as well. Plus, I was 16 at the time. I used my age to my advantage. While some adult athletes might have been skeptical of helping a young, budding writer, I found that teen athletes and athletes in their early twenties were very interested in helping out. They were trying to build their career just like I was trying to build mine, so we could relate to one another. And, the characters in my book were 17-year-old Olympic hopefuls. Interviewing teen Olympic hopefuls about their experience made the most sense.

GET REAL

As a final note, it’s important to remember that not all research will end up in the book. For example, I interviewed a snowboarder, Brooke Shaw, who, fingers crossed, will make the 2014 Olympic team—she’s awesome and I loved interviewing her—but I ultimately decided to cut the snowboarder character from the book, so I could focus more on Alex and Harper. This research wasn’t in vain. I learned a lot, and who knows, I might use it an upcoming project.

Thanks for having me, Aimee!

Beth Pond graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Hendrix College in 2012. In 2013, she taught in South Africa for 9 months as part of a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Grant. Pond is currently completing her coursework at the University of British Columbia’s Creative Writing MFA program. When she’s not writing, Pond enjoys martial arts (she’s a black belt) and serving as a volunteer coach for her brother’s special needs baseball team.  

 

Her debut YA novel, Podium Finish is available now:

 

With six months until the Olympic Games, seventeen-year-old Harper's life is pretty much perfect. She's fighting for the starting spot on Team USA Women's Hockey, and for the first time ever, she has a crush on a guy who likes her back. She feels like the luckiest girl in the world, until she runs a risky play at practice and breaks her knee, thereby sentencing herself to six weeks in a cast and possibly ending her Olympic dream before it even starts.

For seventeen-year-old Alex, being anything less than the best is unacceptable. That's why, after a miserable debut season at the senior level, the former junior national singles champion switches to ice dance. Her skating partner, Ace, is an "all skating all the time" type of guy, which would be fine, if he'd stop keeping secrets about the real reason he and his former partner broke up. Now is not the time for second thoughts, but how can Alex skate her best if she can’t trust her partner…or herself?

 

As the pressure to make the Olympic team builds, the girls must rely on each other, because if there’s one thing they both know, it's that the only thing harder than skating to the top is staying there.

Available for Kindle / Nook , and in paperback where good books are sold ;)

You can also find it on Goodreads.

Beth's Blog: www.pondacrossthepond.blogspot.com

Twitter: @BethPond90

An Interview with Melody Valadez, Author of THOSE WHO TRESPASS

You know those days when you've been WAITING for a book to come out, and it finally arrives, and you don't even have time to feel relieved because you're too busy reading? Well, this is one of those days for me. In fact, I think the only release I’ll find more exciting this year is my own. I’m quivering with anticipation today because Those Who Trespass is finally ON SALE!!!

To celebrate this momentous occasion, I’ve asked the author, Melody Valadez, to drop by and tell us how Those Who Trespass came to be. If you’ve got any questions for Melody, ask them in the comments!

Thanks for dropping by, Melody. Today must be such a big day for you!

Thank you so much for having me! This is a huge day...I still can't believe it's really happening!

I’m so excited to get my hands on Those Who Trespass. For those who haven't heard of it before, can

you tell us what it's about?

Of course. Those Who Trespass is about Jenn Alistor, a 17-year-old murderer. When her brother, Jake, disappears, Jenn makes a deal with the feds: if they'll help her find her brother, she'll turn herself in. But their so-called help comes in the form of 21-year-old Clayton Ford--brother of the guy she killed. Suddenly, lives aren't the only thing at stake any more. This is Jenn's one shot at forgiveness. But she has to choose. Time is running out.

What inspired the story?

There was no single inspiration, honestly, though Gordon Korman's On the Run series was the initial spark. I've always loved writing suspenseful stories about spies and guns and mysteries, but Those Who Trespass quickly became that and more. I was intrigued by Jenn the moment I wrote her into existence, and the story that followed was me answering my own questions: Why was Jenn a murderer? What is like to live with something like that--especially for Jenn, who has such a clear sense of right and wrong? Where is Jake, and what secrets is he hiding? And, most importantly, can Clayton ever forgive {not to mention love} Jenn when he has so much right to hate her?

How long did it take you to write?

I typed the first lines back in October 2010, three years and several drafts ago. That's a long time...hopefully future books are a little more stream-lined.

You’ve been through quite the ride with this book! Tell us about the highlights (and low-lights?) on the journey?

Such a ride, with so many highlights and low-lights, haha! :) Receiving your first critique was definitely a great moment; 

I barely knew you at the time, and having such an enthusiastic impartial opinion gave me hope. Then 13 requests {and 3 revision requests!} from agents; I never dreamed of a great reception like that!

Of course, then comes the low-lights...though I ended up doing some major revisions, my book had a hard time finding a home in the agenting world. Honestly, I thought Those Who Trespass was forever shelved, until the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest showed up in January. I shrugged and submitted TWT, with no better reason than, "Why not?" It made it to the Quarter-Finals {final 100 Young Adult novels}, and, as if that wasn't awesome enough, I got a prize in the form of a Publisher's Weekly review. I've heard that some of those reviews aren't particularly kind, so it was a definite highlight when the reviewer called my book "an adrenaline rush in book form."

So...How did you reach the conclusion that self-publishing was the best choice for you in the end?

 The Publisher's Weekly review--and the excited responses to my excerpt during the contest--made me realize that my book was too good to die. I considered playing the query game again, but I was realizing what a lot of agents had already known: Those Who Trespass doesn't fit all that well into a genre. Thankfully, self-publishing--particularly in the e-book world--has made it possible for writers and readers to break out of the traditional genre boxes. Also, I'm in college, and it's an unfortunate fact that I don't have time to query and revise and revise again over the next three years. If Those Who Trespass was going to be read, it was going to have to be now or post-graduation.

You mention in your bio that you like to blur the lines between Christian and secular fiction. What does that mean? Will people who aren’t Christians find Those Who Trespass preachy?

Great question...let me see if I can answer it.
 
The genre of "Christian fiction" is known for prioritizing the salvation scene and the absence of bad words. Secular fiction is a little more concerned with real than clean, yet often ignores the existence of God and Christianity {not so realistic, given that more than three-quarters of America claims to be Chrstian}.                                 
 
In blurring the lines, I hope to write a dark, gritty, and real story {a la secular fiction} that comes from my heart...which means it will probably include Jesus {a la Christian fiction}. Honestly, I think the whole "Jesus in this genre"/"no Jesus in this genre" thing is becoming pretty dated. Authors like Sara Zarr, Ted Dekker, and even Veronica Roth are already breaking out of their boxes.

That said, Those Who Trespass was never meant to be preachy or even to have a message. It is first and foremost a suspenseful, romantic story, meant to entertain. I did my best while writing to make sure that every line applied to the story; if it didn't, I cut it out, Christian or not. The problem with a lot of "Christian fiction" is the focus on Christian before fiction, and I worked hard to avoid that. If it doesn't have to do with secrets, spies, or romantic tension, I deleted it.
 
What is your dream response from a reader who’s finished Those Who Trespass?
 
The ultimate would be for someone to tell me they couldn't put it down and missed their bus stop/class/sleep because of it. :) But if we're looking for a serious answer, I think it would be mind-blowing to hear from someone who relates to Jenn's guilt and wants to know if forgiveness and love is possible outside of books.

 And now that you’ve finally got a book on the shelves (both virtual and IRL), what are your plans for the future? Will there be a sequel? Or another book? 

Well, I somehow got myself into this crazy, time-sucking thing called college, so there won't be any new novels all that soon. I do have a sequel in mind for Jenn Alistor, because I'd love to explore the "what happens next" between her and Clayton. It already has a title and a basic idea...now all I need is time, haha!

Ugh. I think every writer can empathize with that! Thanks for dropping by Melody. I wish you the very, very best luck with Those Who Trespass! Come back again soon and tell us how it’s going!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are an amazing critique partner and friend, and I'm immensely honored to know you and be here! {Not to mention the sneak peeks I've gotten of your coming-soon novel...the YA world is in for a major treat come November!}

*Blushes. Palms Melody twenty bucks*

Ahem. Those Who Trespass is available TODAY for Kindle here and coming soon in paperback. If you're a YA fan, get out there and buy it! You won't be disappointed. If you want to wait for the paperback release (next week, I think?) you'll want to head over to the Goodreads page and add it to your "To Read" list.

Don't Forget: If you have any questions for Melody about Those Who Trespass, self-publishing, or physics, you can ask them in the comments here! 
 
Melody Valadez enjoys blurring the lines between Christian and secular fiction. She lives with her family in the Texas Hill Country and is most often spotted writing stories, worshiping Jesus, and majoring in physics at The University of Texas at Austin.

Find her {and her blog} online at www.melodyvaladez.com.

The New Gatekeepers (also: The Books that Made Me Geek-Out)

My Kindle recently drew my attention to an author I hadn't read or heard of before. I downloaded a sample of a book and before I was finished reading the sample, I'd bought the entire series. It's a brilliant YA contemporary series by a very talented author named Tammara Webber:


Between the Lines (Book #1) Paperback / Kindle


Where You Are (Book #2) Paperback / Kindle


Good for You (Book #3) Paperback / Kindle



When I sat down with Tammara's books, we weren't solving all the world's problems, or confronting all the world's evils. But we were looking at life through a very unique perspective -- and learning, and growing. These books are (in my opinion) what YA is all about - a little bit of What I Wish My Life Was Like, and a lot of Real.

It's the most fun I've had reading books in a long time. I groaned when I reached the end because THERE WERE NO MORE BOOKS. I was officially in love with her hero (anti-hero, of sorts) and just plain fanatical about the author herself.

(NOTE: I might have geeked out just a little and tweeted the writer incessantly for a week, during which she may have started legal proceedings to make sure I never showed up at her house, but I couldn't possibly confirm, nor deny...)

In any case, when I was finished the books and in that awful limbo of wanting more, but having no more material to devour, I skipped to the front of the books to find out who published them.

That would be, Tammara Webber.

This, my friends, is self-publishing at it's best: When my internal editor didn't notice, and my internal story-swallower didn't have to argue with him. For me, as a reader, these books are GREAT. And while they might not float everyone's boat, there's no need for me to say "Great...for a self-published book..." because they're just plain GREAT.

Even better, the author herself makes no apologies, and pulls no punches about the realities of self-publishing. She's got a great set of indie-writing FAQ's to address the most common questions and requests. There's truth in them-thar lines, thar is.

So what's my point? My point is, when a story catches the reader's attention, they don't spend time poring over the opening pages for rights assignments or copyright attributions. They just read, and enjoy, and wish there was more.

(MORE PLEASE, TAMMARA. *Cough*)

It's authors and books like this that show me how the balance of power is changing.

Having owned a Kindle Fire for five months now, and seeing how it's changed my reading / book shopping habits without me noticing, I've formed a new opinion on the publishing industry:

The traditional model of promoting and selling books still works for customers who don't have easy-use, high-content e-readers. But I think we all know the proportion of readers who don't own e-readers is rapidly shrinking. And I suspect in ten years it will be virtually nil. So... for those readers who don't have or like e-readers, the traditional model is still working.

BUT...

There's a rapidly growing, distinctly personal market for e-books that the publishers can't control. The e-reader is smart: It looks at what you bought and tells you about other books like those. It looks at what you bought and tells you what other people who bought that liked. And it doesn't distinguish by publisher or agent. The only thing that pulls a book to the top of the recommendations pile, is purchases.

Do you know what that means?

It means the agents and publishers aren't the gatekeepers anymore. For digital readers, the real gatekeepers are the readers. (Finally!) Because no matter where or how a book came into print, if people keep buying it, Amazon (or Barnes and Noble, or whoever) keep recommending it.

The bigger the digital proportion of readers, the less powerful the traditional publishing model will be.

Now, don't get me wrong: Traditional publishers still turn out great books from great writers. They'll get the word of mouth recommendations, which equal sales, which equal e-reader recommendations too. But the playing field is evening up.

And I, for one, am a convert. Thank you, Amazon, for telling me I might like Tammara Webber's books. YOU WERE RIGHT.

Your Turn: Do you think readers have the power yet? Or are there still barriers? How long do you think it will be before e-readers are the standard for purchasing and reading books?