"Small With Big Dreams" at SCBWI-C 2019 Conference

On a spur of the moment I decided to attend a panel discussion with Lisa Kline, Robin Kirk, and Katie Pryle; I was glad that I did! Lisa and Robin are both authors who have been published by Blue Crow Publishing, a traditional small press which Katie co-founded with Lauren Faulkenberry.

Katie Pryal, Lisa Kline, Robin Kirk

LISA KLINE

My blog readers are no strangers to Lisa's work. I was privileged to host her cover reveal of her most recent book, One Week of You, wrote about Summer of the Wolves, and blogged about her first book, Eleanor Hill.

Lisa has published ten books with publishers of varying sizes including Carus Publishing, Delacorte Press, Zondervan, and now Blue Crow. Her books have been both agented and non-agented. She submitted to Blue Crow without an agent and was impressed with their prompt response; an offer of publication followed within weeks of her requested revisions. This was very different than the long wait she had sometimes experienced with the larger publishing houses. 

Lisa said she has enjoyed her personal connection with Katie and Lauren. "Publishers who are writers know what it’s like to write and publish a book. Katie and Lauren’s comments inspired me to make my book better.” 

Lisa acknowledged that when your book is with a smaller publisher it may be more challenging to get reviews. Although all the publishers have given her marketing assistance and submitted her books for awards, the downside of a large publisher is that after six months the publisher sometimes must turn to the next book they need to promote. 

Blue Crow continues to promote One Week of You on their site and at conferences. In addition, they promote whatever she does. Lisa finds that she has to do a good deal of her own marketing, but all authors in today’s publishing atmosphere must market. Lisa received a larger royalty than most publishers offer, but not an advance. 

ROBIN KIRK

Robin Kirk's debut novel The Bond, is a young adult post-apocalyptic story that is much different than the nonfiction titles she has previously published. 

In her presentation, Robin recommended researching all publishing options. Her nonfiction books have been published by Duke University Press, The University of Massachusetts Press, and others. She suggested I consider contacting the Charlotte Historical Society as a potential publisher for HALF-TRUTHS.

She discussed the pros and cons of hybrid publishing which often demands a large investment of time and money. Robin recommended reading what Lyn Miller-Lachmann had to say on the topic if you are interested in pursuing it. Forming a co-op with other authors who publish similar books is another option. Here is an article by Jane Friedman on that. Authors can create a website, form imprints, share resources and even purchase ISBN numbers this way. Here is a link to Jane Friedman's popular chart on different publishing paths. 

Robin also recommended joining the Authors Guild as well as a Facebook group in your writing genre. Finally, she also recommended Zotero, which is a free online bibliography manager that is awesome. Thanks to Robin, my next WIP already has a budding bibliography!

KATIE PRYAL

Katie Rose Guest Pryal is the co-publisher of Blue Crow Publishing. Here were some of her observations:

• She has yet to hear positive experience about hybrid publishing by which she means publishers that require you to pay to get your book published while also requiring you to surrender your rights. On the other hand, she strongly supports self-publishing and author co-op groups.
• Traditional publishing thrives on keeping authors in the dark. She and Lauren founded Blue Crow with the intention of being transparent, honest, and available to their authors. (Check out their mission statement.)
• Blue Crow receives unagented submissions and publishes about five books a year. 
• Referral via one of their authors is the best way to connect with her. 
• The landscape of trade reviews is changing. It is hard for small presses to get picked up by the trades. At the same time, however, book bloggers are becoming more and more important, even more important than trade reviews, when it comes to marketing a book to a wide audience. 

That final note was music to my ears! It reminded me of my experience at Highlights Summer Camp in 2016 when assistant editor, Cherie Matthews, announced that Carol Baldwin's blog was one that she followed--without knowing I was in the audience! Both times I felt validated--all my blogging work is paying off!

Speaking of small with big dreams, I think my friend's son was the smallest attendee at the fall conference. He has been "reading" for months! 

One Week Of You: A Review and Giveaway

Last October I was privileged to host Lisa Williams Kline's cover reveal for her newest YA book, ONE WEEK OF YOU (Blue Crow Publishing, 2019).  At that time Lisa shared her path to publication and the book's backstory. Since then I've had the opportunity to read this well-written and engaging story (I didn't want it to end!) and am excited to share it with you.

REVIEW

For as long as she can remember, fifteen-year-old Lizzy has been a serious student who wants to be a doctor and isn't distracted by boys or any fun activities like cheerleading. But that was before Andy Masters--the newest and most popular guy who flirted with her; before she made the cheerleading team; and before she had to carry around a 5-pound bag of flour--her "flour baby"--as part of sex education in Health. 

From: http://www.themagrag.com/2012/02/flour-sack-babies.html

Despite Lizzy's old best friend's warnings that she is in danger of losing focus and her brother's concern over her constantly forgetting her flour baby, Lizzy can't stop from succumbing to what she describes as "AMSD: Andy Master Smiling Disease." The book is full of Lizzy's infatuation as well as her questions (Does he really like me?) which are so typical of young love. 

To increase the tension, the week of the flour baby is also April Fool's week, false fire alarm riddle the school, and Lizzy ends up in detention. She looks down at the other students in detention and gets angry with the teacher who accuses her of not being the sweet person she has portrayed to everyone in the school. In this mirror moment, Lizzy begins to see herself in a different way.

I know since I've had this crush on Andy I've morphed into this totally different person, and I've totally forgotten a lot of stuff and done handsprings on the soccer field during a school evacuation and gotten a few extra flour babies...Maybe it will kill my parents when they find out everything I've done this week.  

... I'm filled with fury, and then it turns into something else. I realize that up until this afternoon I've been judging everyone in this room. (p.80)

True to her investigative nature, Lizzy tries to figure out who is setting the fire alarms. She even wonders if Andy, as the high school reporter/broadcaster, initiated the fire drills to make a journalistic point. Is he a creep or a good guy? Her affection for him is tested on several occasions; she ends up feeling ashamed for lying to her parents and for her poor decisions during her first babysitting job.  

I'm always impressed when an author portrays and uses secondary characters well. After her downfall, Lizzy has a heart to heart talk with her parents. She confesses to feeling bad over how she treated a boy who irritated her. Her father's reply is a message teens need to hear:

Well, when I said to be nice to everyone, I guess I meant to be kind and cordial to everyone. That doesn't mean you have to be best friends with someone you don't want to be close to...You're allowed not to hang out with him. You're allowed to set boundaries. (p. 174)

Her mother chimes in with great advice that I hope girls (and women!) who read this book will take to heart:

"Someone who loves you will never ask you to compromise yourself." (p. 176)

Kudos to Lisa Kline for showing a teenage girl conflicted over her desires to want a boy to like her and concerns about giving up her self. This clean book for young adults realistically portrays sex education and is a welcome addition to the young adult genre that is heavily infused with poor parent-child relationships and characters experimenting with sex and drugs. 

And by the way--the ending is perfect!!

GIVEAWAY

I have a gently used paperback to give to one of you. If you share this post on social media or become a new follower of my blog, I'll add your name twice. Just let me know what you do in the comments and please leave your email address if you are new to my blog. A winner will be drawn on April 4. 

ONE WEEK OF YOU- by Lisa Kline's new YA novel and a Giveaway!

Congratulations to Jo Lynn Worden and Julian Daventry who won copies of DRIVE from last week's blog post. 

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I am always honored when an author asks me to host their cover reveal. So, when Lisa Williams Kline asked if I was interested, of course I said yes! Her latest book, ONE WEEK OF YOU, (Blue Crow Publishing, February 2019) stars 15-year-old Lizzy who has to carry a flour baby for a week for her health class. During that time there are three prank fire drills and evacuations at school. In just one week, Lizzy realizes that adulthood brings complicated responsibilities. 

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Lisa Williams Kline

Here Lisa shares some of the backstory of the book. 

CAROL: What prompted the story idea?

LISA: This story is fictionalized from two different real events. One year in high school my daughter had to carry a bag of flour for a week in her health class called a “flour baby.” I thought this was an interesting way to address human sexuality that had some comic potential. 

The second event took place several years later when there was a week in which there were three bomb threats in my other daughter’s high school. I was interested in the way the students handled that week. When I started writing this story, I thought, what if there were scary disruptions to the school schedule during the same week the kids had to carry the flour babies. I was partly interested in combining a somewhat comic story thread with one that wasn’t comic at all, and that has been one of the challenges in writing this story. It’s also a story of a first crush, and I based that on a combination of a couple of high school crushes of my own. And I have always been a forgetful person, and I incorporated that character flaw into my main character Lizzy. 

CAROL: Did you interview or research the book in anyway? If so, who did you talk to and how did you research it?

LISA: Yes, for example, part of my story involves student hacking of the school computer system, and I interviewed an IT expert on how the students could do this hacking. I also interviewed a teacher about school evacuations. I also had some teens read it and give me feedback about the voice. 

CAROL: I understand that you put aside the manuscript for awhile and then came back to it. Had the story changed in your mind in the interim? If so, how?

LISA: The story has evolved quite a bit over the time that I have been working on it. I put it away when I was working on the Sisters in All Seasons series. When I took it back out, I thought, hey, I think I can work on this again, there are some good moments here. Various editors and agents have all had suggestions for changes, and the story is quite a bit different than it was starting out. 

CAROL: What is the message you hope your readers will take away?

LISA: I wasn’t really thinking about a message when I wrote this book. I just wanted to tell a story that I hoped would be engaging. Many of my books end up being coming of age stories, and I think this one is too. I guess if there’s any message it would be to be kind to everyone. 

CAROL: Can you share some of your path to publication for ONE WEEK of YOU? 

LISA: While I’ve had an agent in the past, I do not have an agent now. I sent the manuscript directly to the editors at Blue Crow Publishing. www.bluecrowpublishing.com 

I queried Blue Crow Publishing and in a few weeks they asked for the manuscript. Lauren Faulkenberry wrote me about six weeks later, after she’d read it, with a revision request. In that revision, she wanted me to mostly ramp up the tension more and make a change to the ending. I worked on that revision for a little more than a month, sent it back, and after a few weeks she send me a publication offer. I was absolutely thrilled!

Lauren and Katie at Blue Crow have been wonderful to work with. After I signed the contract, Lauren wrote me an editorial letter in which she asked for more changes, such as fleshing out the setting more and describing the characters more fully. I also did another round of revisions for Katie. Blue Crow is an indie press, and the personal attention has been fantastic. I really feel as though Lauren and Katie were one hundred percent behind me and my book. So far it’s been a great experience. 

CAROL: Thanks for sharing all of that, Lisa. It's great to hear of an indie press that's working hard for its authors! And now for the moment you've all been waiting for (unless you cheated and scrolled down)--here is the lovely cover for Lisa's new book!

GIVEAWAY

Leave your name (and email address if I don't have it) to enter the giveaway of an eARC for ONE WEEK OF YOU. Enter soon! Giveaway ends October 18!