Category Archives: Author’s Perspective

The ‘Reality’ of Writing: How Reality TV Can Improve Your Books – For Real!

15 Wednesday Jun 2022

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by Toni Gallagher

Reality TV might be a guilty pleasure for many, but believe it or not, there are storytelling secrets in those wild, dramatic, and silly shows that can truly improve your writing. How do I know? 

Well, I had two middle grade novels published by Random House while I worked as an Executive Producer on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills! And after working for almost 30 (gulp) years in the business, I have seen how the rules of reality TV can punch up a story in need. Hopefully, the things I’ve learned can help you too.

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When the Writing (or Drawing) Gets Tough: How to Plow Through the Block

25 Wednesday May 2022

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You may have heard about writer’s block, or have gotten stuck mid-way through a story or a sketch. Maybe you’ve redrawn the same scene multiple times only to have to throw away the paper after you’ve erased right through it. These times can be tough, and it’s hard to pick up that pencil and keep going. But that’s what you’ve got to do.

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Publicity & Marketing: A Case Study – Part 5

18 Wednesday May 2022

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by R.S. Mellette

Me and Dad

This blog-umentary started out as an analysis of hiring a PR firm for a small-press book, and I promise we’ll get back to that, but to assess that value for the month of April I have to fill you in on some personal backstory. 

You might want to get a tissue.

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#KTChat with Amy Duchene and Elisa Parhad: Collab x Fab – 7 Tips on Collaborative Creation

04 Wednesday May 2022

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by Amy Duchene and Elisa Parhad

Editor’s Note: On Twitter this Friday (5/6/22) from 12-1PM PST, Amy and Elisa will take your questions and discuss why our stories matter, even when we think they don’t. Log into your Twitter account during our chat hour and use the hashtag #KTChat or @mention @amydishes and @SCBWISOCALLA to join the discussion! If you aren’t on Twitter, leave questions in the blog comments before the chat! 

We (Amy and Elisa) are long-time friends and co-authors of Pool Party. Luckily, we had a stellar experience working together on this project, but we know that not every collaboration ends with hugs and a publication. Collaborating together for nearly nine months on this project, we learned a lot about what works and what to watch out for so that you can find success too. Here are seven tips.

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Interview with YA Author Britta Lundin

27 Wednesday Apr 2022

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Southern California-based author Britta Lundin’s YA novel, Like Other Girls (2021, Hyperion) has been on several “Best of 2021” lists. Her debut YA was the popular Ship It. She’s also a TV writer for Riverdale, Betty, and The Big Leap.

CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: Welcome to Kite Tales! In Like Other Girls, Mara’s angry outburst gets her kicked off the high school basketball team. When she’s (briefly) on the girls’ volleyball team, it’s not a good fit so she joins the football team. At first, being the only girl isn’t really a big deal, but it turns into a larger movement when four other girls join too. In your first YA book, Ship It, (about fandom) you said you wrote what you knew; because of your experiences, you’ve been on the inside “seeing how the sausage is made.” (Love that quote!) Your bio says you were a multi-sport athlete so is Girls another “sausage” story?

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Publicity & Marketing: A Case Study – Part 4

20 Wednesday Apr 2022

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by R.S. Mellette

Jennifer Vance of Books Forward, you saved the book! Or, you know, at least kept the release date from being pushed back to oblivion.

Spoiler Alert—At the end of this story, we finally get our cover.

Now that we have the cover wrapped up, here are some details of the issues we were having. 

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How Attending SCBWI-L.A. Writer’s Day Led to a Book Deal

06 Wednesday Apr 2022

Posted by in Author's Perspective, Writers Days

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by Charlotte Offsay

Unpublished and unagented, I attended SCBWI-L.A. Writer’s Day 2019 full of hope but never expecting that the events of the day would ultimately lead to a big five publishing contract. 

For the second year in a row, I attended as an aspiring picture book author, and this time around I knew what to expect. I arrived eager to soak in the wisdom of the day’s fabulous lineup of speakers and had submitted a picture book manuscript for critique by one of the event day faculty. The manuscript that I submitted was one that I had been working on for months, Gram’s Got the Magic Touch. Here is the pitch:

Gram’s leaving, and she’s taking her magic with her. Without it Rose’s baby brother Henry wails and life as Rose knows it is dooooomed. There’s only one solution, Rose needs magic powers too.

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Interview with YA Authors Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren

30 Wednesday Mar 2022

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Los Angeles writers Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren are an award-winning coauthor duo. In their YA, Horror Hotel, the YouTube-famous Ghost Gang—Chrissy, Chase, Emma, and Kiki—visit a haunted LA hotel notorious for tragedy to secretly film after dark. They expect it to be just like their previous paranormal huntings (spooky, but harmless) yet soon wonder if they will survive the night.

CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: Welcome to Kite Tales! I couldn’t put down your new YA, Horror Hotel. What inspired you to write a scary book for a YA audience as opposed to an adult one?

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Publicity & Marketing: A Case Study – Part 3

23 Wednesday Mar 2022

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by R.S. Mellette

January 17th was my 60th birthday. All I wanted as a gift was a cover for my book.

I didn’t get it.

But I did get the reviews from Kirkus and Foreword.

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Publicity & Marketing: A Case Study — Part 2

23 Wednesday Feb 2022

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by R.S. Mellette

When last we left, I had set aside $20,000 to spend on the promotion of my next book, Kiya And The Morian Treasure, which hits streets April 26th, 2022. So, let’s look at the heat I’m getting from the money I’ve set on fire.

Summer 2021: After a COVID delay of a year-and-a-half, my publisher, Elephant’s Bookshelf Press, was eager to get the ball rolling again, but our original cover artist gracefully bowed out to concentrate on her picture book/lower MG work. Matt at EBP found a new artist who promised to deliver in November. As that was the only big thing holding up publication, I reached out again to Books Forward saying, “We were a go in 2019. How about 2021?” They honored their 2019 bid. Contracts were signed in August for a November start to a six-month campaign ending with a launch sometime in the Spring of 2022. I was also sent an Author’s Questionnaire to complete before November.

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