CALLING ALL BLOGGERS

I discovered the book blogosphere in ’09. I had sold my first book, A BLUE SO DARK, and I was taking my very first steps into developing an online life. Seems strange to say now, but back then, I had no online presence at all—no social media accounts, no digital subscriptions, nothing.

It all felt so strange to me.

And then…

The blogosphere.

I met bloggers coast-to-coast…and in Puerto Rico…England…Readers utterly devoted to their genre of choice. To helping authors spread word of their work. In ten years, bloggers have hosted interviews and vlogs and giveaways. They’ve reviewed my work. They’ve participated in cover reveals…

And more.

The “more” being that over the years, we’ve continued to be in contact. I’ve been in touch with YA reviewers who went on to college, then graduated college, then became teachers or writers themselves. We’ve shared triumphs and heartaches.

It’s been a powerful community. Emphasis on “community.” I’m eternally grateful to be part of it.

I’m sending out the call to adult bloggers—like contemporary fiction? A slight dash of magic? Maybe even some reinvented fairy tales? Non-traditional characters? Not-you-typical love stories?

Please do get in touch: hollyschindlerbooks (at) gmail (dot) com. I’d love to add you to the review team.

The best part of any “community” is that it can (and should!) be constantly growing.

COVER REVEAL: THE ART OF THE KISS

The Art of the Kiss

A young photographer, an old camera, and a bit of magic disturb the dust, setting in motion events that will reawaken a love story fifty years in the making.

This is not your typical love story.

It’s about the guts of a long-term relationship. It’s about dreams and the loss of youth and fame. It’s something of a reinvented fairy tale. It’s a little bit magical.

So sure, it’s about love. But it’s also about much, much more.

I’ve been working on The Art of the Kiss off and on now for over a year. Told in snapshots, in a non-linear format, with multiple POVs. This novel demanded it be written in a somewhat non-conventional way.

---

From the back cover:

Can you have more than one happily ever after?

Taken in a flash at the beginning of their life together, Sharon Minyard’s portrait of herself and her husband, Michael, hangs on her studio wall as a testament to the possibility of love.

Once drawing crowds to gaze in wonder, it has since become all but forgotten—until a young photographer, an old camera, and a bit of magic disturb the dust, setting in motion events that will revive its meaning…

Showing—in black and white—that in a town named Fairyland, the dream of forever is but a snapshot away.

---

Okay, that was more than just a cover reveal. But you don’t work on a book for more than a year and not get excited it about actually seeing it in the world!

To celebrate, the book is discounted during its pre-order period. You can snag a copy here.

DELUXE SUPERHERO WRITING JOURNAL

 

I’m delighted to announce a deluxe edition to my writing guide, INVENT YOUR OWN SUPERHERO, is now available on Amazon as an e-book and paperback.

What makes it deluxe?

A new cover! This one’s brighter, and features a wider array of kids’ faces. I wanted to make sure all kids had a better chance to see themselves represented on the cover.

The deluxe edition still uses the superhero story structure to hook kids on writing. I’ve included all the same story prompts to introduce young writers to concepts like protagonists and antagonists, conflict, backstory, etc.

In this edition, I’ve also included the full text of my own original superhero story:

THE ADVENTURES OF SUPER SUSAN

I invented (and illustrated) this character when I was a young author: a hero with superhuman kindness!

 

I dusted off the Super Susan character and wrote a new story featuring her last year. (I felt that nothing was quite as timely as a hero whose superpower was kindness!)

The deluxe edition includes reading questions that illustrate how the concepts introduced in the superhero journal come into play in Susan’s tale. It proves all those prompts and concepts really do gel into a single cohesive story.

Susan’s story and the reading questions will help young authors who have worked their way through journal prompts but still aren’t quite sure what to do with all the ideas they’ve brainstormed.

The deluxe edition truly is two books in one! Part fiction, part how-to…and the supplemental reading questions help tie the whole thing together.

Great for classrooms or individual use, the book will be available in wide-release. If you’re a wholesaler, it will also be available via Ingram. You can snag an e-book or paperback at Amazon now.

NEWS, NEWS, NEWS – REVIEWERS NEEDED!

I feel like I’ve been posting incessantly about copyediting and polishing…now, I’m finally ready to start talking about publishing!

I’ve got a couple different projects–for two different age groups–about to release.

ADULT

The first is an adult general fiction novel. I’ve been working on this one in fits and spurts for more than a year. I know, I know–on blogs and on social media, us writers (yep, myself included) have always had a tendency to slobber over pending releases like proud parents. How many times have you heard all of us proclaim, “This is the book of my heart!”?? I’ll soooo be guilty of this if I spend too much time describing the work. (In fact, that sentence popped into my head as I started to write this post.) I’ll just say here I’m really excited about this one. I’ve experimented slightly with overall structure, and my main characters are again somewhat non-traditional.

I’m also looking to expand my pool of reviewers. I’ll be distributing my initial review copies through my newsletter. I hope you sign up for my adult newsletter–which will also provide early cover reveals, etc.–here.

MG

The second soon-to-release book is a new MG work. It’s a blend of fiction and how-to; if you’re a teacher or tutor or a parent who knows you’ll soon be looking for something to keep your kids’ minds engaged over the summer months, I hope you’ll sign up for my MG-specific newsletter. Again, I’m looking to expand my pool of reviewers, and I’ll be offering opportunities for newsletter subscribers to get their hands on a copy for review. Sign up for the MG newsletter here.

PUNCHY WRITING

This is one of those areas that sounds simple and really isn’t. As Hawthorne said, “Easy reading is damned hard writing.” (BTW: How can that quote be Hawthorne? Doesn’t it sound more like Twain? Coulda sworn it was Twain.)

Anyway. Punchy writing. Writing that’s lean. That doesn’t have a bunch of filler. That doesn’t get bogged down. Sounds like it’d be so easy. But it is often so hard to know what to cut. It’s far harder to kill your darlings than you’d think. (That darling bit was Faulkner. Sounds like Faulkner. Still hard to believe that easy reading quote wasn’t Twain.)

A few posts popped up recently about achieving leaner, punchier writing. This one from Jane Friedman’s blog offers tips on cutting the mundane. (Seriously–if you’re not regularly reading Friedman, you’re missing out.) And Lamar Giles stopped by my own MG blog to offer a few tips on writing action. (Hint: cut, cut, cut, short, short, short.)

A GREAT PLACE TO START INFUSING “PUNCHINESS” IN YOUR OWN MANUSCRIPT: DIALOGUE

One area I’ve been hitting in my own writing during the line-edit stage is dialogue. Dialogue tags (he said / she said) can add a ton of unnecessary words. As I draft, I also tend to add lots of completely unneeded direction in dialogue. Characters turn, tilt heads, push hair from faces, light cigarettes, cross legs, frown, etc. Dialogue moves quicker and carries more weight if you get rid of the extraneous description and tags surrounding it.

 

A HARDBACK POETRY COLLECTION IN TIME FOR NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

In honor of National Poetry Month, I’m delighted to announce a hardcover edition of my poetry collection TANGLES officially releases April 2 (but is already available for purchase)!

The book design’s my doing: gray cloth cover with a matte dust jacket. The interior also includes several visual design elements to tie the work together.

But the most important part of a poetry collection is, you know, the collection. The words on the page. TANGLES is not a head-scratcher. These love poems read like song lyrics. They’re accessible and digestible. One of my favorite aspects of the collection is that the poems age as they go along–the speakers in the earliest verses are clearly quite young; by the end of the collection, the speakers are looking at love from a more seasoned, experienced angle.

You can grab a copy of the hardback on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. If you’re a bookseller yourself, the book is also available from Ingram.

QUICK BOOK DESIGN TIP #1: IMPORTING YOUR WORD DOC INTO INDESIGN

If you’re new to indie (self) publishing–or just new to the world of designing your own books–welcome! I think design’s actually one of the more fun parts of the indie world. And the good news is, you in no way need a design degree or extensive design experience in order to design your own books. You’re a novelist. Nobody knows how to take a big, intimidating job and break it into manageable chunks like you. Approach design the same way you approached writing the book: Don’t get overwhelmed by the enormity of the job. Just focus on the small task at hand.

Of course, the first thing you need to do when you design the print (paperback or hardback) edition of your book is import the text to InDesign. You in no way have to use InDesign. I know plenty of authors who use Vellum, for example. But for those of you who are going the InDesign route, here’s all it takes:

1. Create a new document in the trim size of your choice.

2. In the File menu, click “Place.”

3. Choose your Word document. At this point, you’ll see your cursor is loaded with your document.

4. *****This is the key****** HOLD SHIFT.

5. While holding the Shift key, click the upper left-hand corner of your document.

Voila! That’s it.

Holding the Shift key allows the text to Autoflow. InDesign doesn’t really work like a word processor. It has a lot of similar functions–spell check, etc.–but its primary function is, of course, design. (The first time you open the program on your computer, you’ll probably think it looks more like Photoshop than a word processor.) So if you don’t hold Shift, it’ll just place your text on one page (and give you a warning in the Preflight panel that you have overset text). But if you hold Shift, it will create enough new pages to accommodate the full length of your text.