Anna Banks's Blog, page 6

Just thought you should know that I'm giving away a signed ARC of OF POSEIDON on Goodreads, and it's open to international entries. If your country is not on the list, please let me know and I will add it. The giveaway ends April 15th, so run along and tell all your friends, family, neighbors, and frenemies.

May the odds be ever your favor, and stuff. :)

Oh hecktotheyes! I'm going on book tour this summer with three fellow Macmillan (and undeniably awesome) YA authors: Jennifer Bosworth (STRUCK), Emmy Laybourne (MONUMENT 14), and Leah Bardugo (SHADOW & BONE). We shall be called FIERCE READS. Check out our Facebook page here, and be sure to like us, at least a little. :)

For a complete schedule of tour stops, check out the "Appearances" tab at the top of my blog.

Also, if you can make one of the stops, be sure to ask me "Boxers or briefs?" because I'm DYING to say, "Saran Wrap!" =D

Guys. GUYS. We have two winners for the season of swag Writer Appreciation giveaway:

Cherie aka @writercheri on Twitter

aaaaaaaaand

C D Meetens


Congratulations! May your day be filled with confetti, cupcakes, and chicken wings (see how easy it is to include the magic rule of three in writing?). Winners, please email your mailing address to byannabanks (at) gmail (dot) com, and I'll get your gift certificates to you. Thanks all for participating, and stayed tuned for more giveaways. Plus, you don't want to miss all my rants and peeks into the publishing world from the eyes of a debut author. :)

I'm baaaack! After a two month hiatus, I'm ready to throw around some more swag, and the theme this month is WRITER APPRECIATION!

We all know that the writing community is one of the most supportive, encouraging communities out there. And we all know why: Breaking into the publishing industry is freaking hard! Writing queries is suckish! Rejection hurts like a beeeoch!

So, in partnership with The Editorial Department, I'm giving away not one, but TWO (because I was gone for two months) gift certificates for the following:

"Redeemable for a critique and editorial analysis of a one-page query letter and sample material for agent or publisher submission of up to 2,500 words. Book length adult and young adult fiction and nonfiction only please."

So that's a professional critique of a query letter and roughly your first ten pages! And I have to tell you, I'm excited to be giving this away. I wish I'd known about these folks when I was being pitched about in the query hurricane. The co-owner, Renni Browne, is also the co-author of SELF EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS, a book I highly recommended to writers, even before I stumbled across the website for The Editorial Department.

So, if you'd like to enter to win, here are the rules:

1.) You must be un-agented.
2.) You must follow my blog.
3.) You must follow me on Twitter, and tweet about this contest at least once. (please include a link to this post, and my handle @byannabanks in your tweet. If you do not, I may miss your tweet!)
4.) The contest will end Saturday, December 17th at midnight. The winners will be chosen using Random.org, and will be posted on my blog on Monday, December 19th.
5.) There will be two winners, one for each gift certificate.


And that's it! Okay....GO!

I am going to make this brief. My mom unexpectedly passed away on October 27th. One week she was diagnosed with cancer, the next week we were told she had 7-10 days left. She passed away within 36 hours after that. While I don't wish to give details, I will say that naturally, I didn't feel like doing much blogging, writing, or anything in general during these past two months, hence my absence.

Thanks for everyone's well wishes, thoughts, and prayers.

Anna

Are you preparing for an upcoming conference? 'Cause I am. I'll be crashing the Southern Breeze SCBWI 20th Annual Writing & Illustrating for Kids conference in October (and I'd loooove to see you there!). This'll be my first conference EVER, so I'm a bit nervous, and because of said anxiety, I've been lurking on the Internet and collecting conference tips. Here are some that I've wrangled for your prepping pleasure:

1.) Dress Appropriately. This might sound like a DUH moment, but if this item is almost always number one on all the conference prep lists I've read, so someone, somewhere, is not getting the memo. A conference isn't prom. A conference isn't the gym. Business casual. To me, business casual screams slacks, a shirt you'll probably have to iron (boo!), and you'll probably have to wear makeup and comb your hair and stuff.

2.) Dress Comfortably. I know, I know. Which is it, right? How about we keep the slacks and the makeup, but we add layers to our outfit, in case it gets too hot/cold. Also, the conference is not the time for breaking in new shoes or wearing stilettos, unless you're particularly good at wearing stilettos (if so, email me and give me a few tips). You'll be walking to workshops and hopefully mingling, so comfy shoes will be a necessity. Also, leave the perfume/cologne at home. People are allergic. And there's this one kind of perfume that makes me vomit instantaneously, and no one wants to see/smell that.

3.) Bring Stuff. Stuff like a notebook with pockets so you can take materials home and take notes during the workshop. Bring a pen, people. Don't be that person. The conference will probably supply some of these things, but bring them just in case. Also, it wouldn't hurt to bring some business cards, even if you're not yet pubbed. It should include your name, your mug shot, and your contact info. You never know who you'll meet. You just never know. :)

4.) Be courteous. To the volunteers. To other attendees. To the hotel staff. To everyone. Why should I tell you this? Because it's listed on other people's conference lists, so again, someone is still violating this basic rule.

5.) Agents/Editors. Don't pitch to them in the bathroom. They attend conferences to mingle and find new talent, yes. But pitching to them mid-stream is bad. Very bad. If you've scheduled a pitch appointment, then prepare for it. Practice your presentation until it sounds natural. Have material ready in case the agent/editor asks for it on the spot. (Not the whole MS. Just the first few chapters). This is also where a business card comes in handy. It will help them remember you when you send them your material.

These are but a few of the tips I've found. Do you have anything to add? :)

Okay folks, during the midst of my Season of Swag giveaway of a signed copy of ENCLAVE by Ann Aguirre, Ishita from The Reading Fish threatened me with bad things if I didn't do a giveaway for her Underwater Adventures Blog Hop. So, in keeping with the under-the-sea theme, I agreed to give away a signed copy of RIPPLE by Mandy Hubbard.

Keeping up with two giveaways was very stressful for me, so please feel free to send me fried chicken to help me recuperate. :)

Oh yeah, and congrats to the winners:

ENCLAVE goes to Andrea over at The Bookish Babes blog. She and her fellow blogger Melissa run a great show over there, offering insightful reviews, awesome giveaways, and coolness in general.


RIPPLE goes to Tamara over at Tamara's Book Ramblings. Have you seen the background of this blog, people? It's how I want my room to be wall-papered. Seriously.


Congrats again to the winners, and thanks to all who participated. Don't forget to check back soon for more giveaways!

Admittedly, this is not a huge secret (as I previously thought), since it's already on Amazon and Goodreads, but here it is, the cover for OF POSEIDON, my YA debut:



And I can't stop staring at it! Happy Friday! 

Okay, so I know I'm already doing a giveaway for a signed copy of Ann Aguirre's ENCLAVE (it's not too late to enter! You can read about that here), but when my friend Ishita from The Reading Fish asked me if I was interested in doing a blog hop, I couldn't resist. The theme: Underwater Adventures, of course!

So, in honor of all things under the sea, I'm giving away a signed copy of Mandy Hubbard's mermaid novel, RIPPLE! The rules are simple. You must:

      1.) Become a follower of my blog.
      2.) Follow me on Twitter.
      3.) Tweet at least once about the giveaway on Twitter. (be sure to use my handle       @byannabanks so I'll know you've been a do gooder).

The blog hops runs from Sept 1st thru Sept 5th, so don't forget to check out the other Underwater Adventure hosting blogs (click on the picture above). There'll be tons of prizes and giveaways, not to mention a Read-a-thon. And if you want to stock up on mermaid books for the read-a-thon, check out YA Fantasy Guide for a tidy list of them!

Happy Hopping!

So, this last week I got a peek at the preliminary cover for OF POSEIDON! And it was...breathtaking. Seriously, I almost cried, that's how pleased I was! Love, love, LOVE it.

Which leads me to reveal a secret to you: I was secretly dreading the cover reveal. Thing is, the author doesn't really have a make-or-break say in the end about the cover. I kept having these nightmares about an AQUAMARINE-like cover. I'm not picking on that cover, but it's not suited for the YA crowd I wanted to target when I wrote OF POSEIDON. And oh sure, the author can protest on a cover (which I would only suggest you do if you have valid reasons). For instance, check out Mandy Hubbard's experience with her preliminary cover for RIPPLE. Her publisher agreed with her (professionally presented) reasoning, and changed it. But ultimately, the publisher will go with what they think will sell the book.

In retrospect, I'm not sure how I ever doubted the capability of Feiwel and Friends' art department. I mean, get a load of these covers:






I'm not sure why I ever doubted them at all. First-timer jitters, maybe? In any case, even after KNOWING what they are capable of, they still greatly exceeded my expectations with the cover of OF POSEIDON.  I have the image saved as the background on my computer, and sometimes I just stare at it and think, "Wow. That's going to be mine. Wow."

It stays true to the story, but it will catch the attention of any bookstore browser. Sigh.