Guess Where I'm Going Next Week??

Tip of the Day: If you're in the Rochester area go see Deena and a TON of super cool authors this weekend at the Teen Book Fest! See Deena's post for deets.

I already posted this on my personal blog this week but I didn't tell you guys. Guess where I'm going Tuesday night?

I'm going to see Oprah! Specifically, I'm going to her big Farewell Surprise Spectacular at the United Center! Whoo hoo!!

Ok, what the heck is that exactly? I don't know. All we know is that taping is from 5-10:30pm and that it will air as two shows, her second and third to last shows.

But what is going to go on for that 5 and a half hours?! Your guess is as good as mine! We know that it is a "Surprise Spectacular". Whatever that means. I like my titles to give more info. Like with MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS you get the idea of what the book might be about. But "SURPRISE SPECTACULAR"? Are we getting a surprise? Are we surprising Oprah? And what on earth would surprise Oprah at this point? I don't think there's anything anyone can give her material wise so it has to be the guests they're bringing in. But she already knows everyone. Unless Jesus Christ himself appears. Do you think they booked Jesus? It is Oprah after all. Well, whatever happens, I'll tell you guys about it next week. Even if I'm blogging while riding atop the back of one of the pet elephants Oprah gave away to everyone in the audience.

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

What's in a Name?

Tip of the Day: Book banning sucks. Check out this recent blog post from Sara Ockler: On Book Banning Zealots & Ostriches.

Quick, on a scale of 1 to 5, how important is the book title?

What was your guess? Me, I'm going to say 4, 4 1/2ish. I haven't thought too much about titles until recently. With my first two books I titled them at the beginning of the process and the names pretty much stayed the same. But I recently needed to give a new title to my book coming out next fall. You might remember it was called Pumpkin Princess. Ready for the new name...

JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS

I'm digging it. The book was called Pumpkin Princess for so long that it's a bit hard to switch to the new title in my head but I do think it's cute and more appealing.

I know people are always saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover." But everyone SO does! In fact, I think your average bookstore browser judges books first on cover, then title, then jacket flap. In that order. The book can be AMAZING but no one will know if the cover is blech. Would you agree?

I participated in two author fair this past week and I can't tell you how many people stopped, looked at my poster, mouthed the words: My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours, and then giggled. They then asked me what it was about or told me stories of their own fake boyfriends. I always liked the title but it was really neat to see so many people react to it.

So tell me, what do you think about titles? Super important or nah, doesn't matter?

Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves