Seven Books that Shaped Who I Am

Hello everyone!

The other day I had a conversation with sci-fi and fantasy author Olivia Berrier about the seven books that have had the greatest impact on us.  I was able to come up with two lists of seven books: seven that shaped who I am as a writer and seven that influenced who I am as a person.

Your challenge is to come up with a list of the seven books that have had the greatest impact on you.  Think about how and why they influenced you.  Then, send each author a short message letting them know what their book meant to you.  You will make their day!

To help you get started, I have included my list of the seven books that helped shape who I am as a writer.  (I cheated a little – If the series as a whole influenced me rather than a specific book from the series, I listed the title of the series.)

The Lion, the Witch, and the Waredrobe by C.S. Lewis – This was the first story I ever fangirled over.  It established my love for allegories and fantasy worlds.

The Seven Sleepers Series by Gilbert Morris – It built upon the foundation Narnia had laid.  My love of allegories and fantasy worlds was solidified.

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini – The Inheritance Cycle showed me how to explore different belief systems in a fictional setting and introduced me to the idea that magic can have rules.  From a technical standpoint, I learned a trick for minimizing use of the auxiliary verb “had” when relating something that had happened before the story began.  (This only applies to books that are narrated in the past tense.)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – This book was my introduction to first-person narration.  It is my favorite go-to example for how to set your reader firmly in a world without having an info dump and for what information to include in the first chapter of a novel.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson – This book showed me that children’s books can cover difficult, real-life situations which young people sadly face but society often considers too mature to discuss with children.

Main Street Series by Ann M. Martin – This series showed me how to grow characters over the course of several books.  It also demonstrated how to write about real-life, too-mature-to-discuss-with-children situations in a tasteful way.

A to Z Mysteries by Ron Roy – This series showed me how to structure a chapter book mystery series.

Happy writing!

Katie

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Self-Publishing: Hiring Contractors Beyond a Copy Editor

Hello everyone!

As promised, here is my interview with sci-fi and fantasy author Olivia Berrier.  In the interview, Berrier talks about her experience with the self-publishing process and what types of contractors a self-publishing author can hire.

If you read my last post, you know that I had quite a learning curve with this project.  Below are the top three things I learned about making a YouTube video:

1. Always shoot your video in horizontal.  Never film in vertical.
2. Use a microphone or have a sound recording device close to your mouth.
3. Double or triple the time estimate you allot to the editing process.

Happy writing!

Katie

Query Etiquette

Hello everyone and happy Easter!

I recently read a wonderful article by Mirka Breen titled “Email Response-Time Etiquette.”  In it, she discussed how there are varying opinions about what is an acceptable response time for e-mails and how response time is affected by the type of e-mail account.

For a personal e-mail account, a few hours to a week is acceptable depending on the urgency of the message and the type of e-mail it is.  For professional e-mails, there should be a response within 48 hours.  However, when it comes to an agent responding to a writer’s query, the response time could be months, and some agents will not respond at all.

It is important to recognize that agents not only receive hundreds of queries, but they have to go through them, pitch projects, and communicate with editors and established clients.  Do not be antsy or rude if an agent doesn’t respond right away or at all.  If you have not heard back from an agent within four to six months, assume that the agent is not interested in the project and move on.

Below are some additional articles that Mirka Breen recommended and that I found useful.

“Ask the Agent: How long should an agent take with my submission?” by Chip MacGregor

“Justin’s Case” by Janet Reid

“What Is An Appropriate Response Time To Email?” by Laura Vanderkam

“What are acceptable email response times?” by Crystal at MommiFried

In my opinion, a good way for writers to handle e-mailed queries is to set the highest response time standard for themselves.  After all, as writers, we have a project which we need an agent to love, and agents get hundreds of queries.  Don’t let someone else’s project catch their eye first.  If an agent asks for something, respond within 24-48 hours.

Happy writing!

Katie

Author Events: School Visits, Library Presentations, and Book Signings

Hello everyone!

So, once you’ve publish your book, you’re job is done, right?  Wrong!  Now more than ever, authors have to market their books.  A great marketing strategy is to book live events like school visits, library presentations, and book signings.

These sorts of interactions can by scary for authors, especially for the ones who hate public speaking or are introverts.  The following articles have tips for how to have positive author events.  I hope they help!

Tips for Authors:

“Organization & Preparation Tips” by Garr Reynolds

“How to Host a Successful Book Signing” by WestBow Press

Tips for Schools:

“7 Tips for the Perfect Author Visit” by Brad Herzog  (Authors, consider creating an event packet to give to give to schools, libraries, and other event locations to help stir up excitement for your visit – see point 4.  Trust me, as someone who’s acted since I was five, an engaged audience is way more fun than an apathetic one.)

Tips for Libraries:

“Publicity, programming and promotion – Arrange an author visit” by the Association for Library Service to Children

Happy writing and good luck marketing!

Katie