Introducing Me (Megg) and My 2011 Writing Recap

Tip of the Day: Don't be afraid of independent authors. There's some really great self-published books out there!

Hi! *waves* My name is Megg. I'm a former freelance parenting journalist turned ninja! Oh, well, in my imagination at least. If you want a basic bio about me, click here. Or you can strap on your seat belt and take a trip with me in my handy-dandy time machine.

I know we're supposed to recap our 2011 writing goals. I'm going to break the rules a bit (watch out, I tend to do that) and take you back to 2010. In the midst of a declining freelance parenting career due to poor economic conditions, I submitted novel queries to agents. Perhaps a bit obsessively. I knew there was a reason my freelance career was on the skids - it was because it was finally my time to shine as a novelist. <insert angelic music here>

I had completed two novels, ANATHEMA and SLEEPERS, and was absolutely sure I would easily be able to get an agent, get a book deal, and live the rest of my life in blissful happiness. Um, yeah, didn't quite happen that way. There were the agents who never responded (ugh), then there were the form letter rejections (ugh), and the sweet personal notes telling me my book looked awesome, but that it wasn't for them and never give up rejections (double ugh). There were quite a few who requested my full. I KNEW one of them would take me on. I had no doubt in my mind whatsoever.

Guess I should learn the difference between knowing something for a fact and hoping for something so deeply. One agent offered to take me on if I'd switch genres. That was a deal-breaker for me. One had me submit all my work to her. In the end she just decided to reject me and I'll never know why. Another held on to my work for nearly a year, kept promising to get back to me and never did. By the end of 2010, I was convinced my books would never, ever be read by anyone outside my critique group.

My BWF (best writing friend) Karly Kirkpatrick told me about epublishing. I scoffed. Self-publishing was for people who gave up, right? Not one to automatically dismiss any idea, I researched it. Karly & I talked, and talked, and talked about it. It wasn't until I saw the quality work being put out by so many self-published authors (Konrath, Amanda Hocking, Sarra Cannon) that I decided to jump in the epub pool.

There were no sharks - just eager readers. I'll swim with them any day.

Now we're in 2011 - I epublished ANATHEMA in February. OUBLIETTE in June. SLEEPERS in July. SEVERED in November. THE INITIATE in December. Over 25,000 copies of my books have been downloaded. I have countless new Facebook and Twitter friends. I have met so many new & amazing readers in the last year. I've also sold foreign rights to my books. I don't regret one moment of 2011.

If you follow my A2A posts, you'll learn more about how I accomplished so much. Believe me, I have a TON to say about it too. I'd really love to know what you guys want to hear. Leave some comments below or email me - meggjensen (at) gmail.com - and tell me what you want to learn about epublishing.

I'm so excited to be on A2A and thank you so much to the ladies for inviting me!!!! :D

-- Megg, Miss Enchanted ePubber

2011 Year in Review

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Happy New Years! I'm excited to be back for 2012 and all the good things it holds in store. But first here's a look back at my 2011:

In JANUARY the paperback of The Espressologist was released.

I was super excited for this because B&N gave it a great display for Valentine's Day and when I saw it I had to buy one. I couldn't even wait for the publisher to send me some. I loved when the hardcover came out but the paperback had the little extras we added like recipes from the book and a fun interview. So exciting!

And the most exciting part of the month was seeing my middle grade, My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours, come out at the Scholastic Book Fairs! I was seeing it everywhere-- in fliers and on posters at the kids' school. And the most exciting part was seeing it at the book fairs firsthand. I love, love, love Scholastic Book Fairs!

In FEBRUARY I got to do a book signing with my dear friend Kristin Walker (did you see she has a new hilarious book coming out soon?) and the super sweet Elizabeth Eulberg.

And I also got copies of the Japanese version of The Espressologist. So cute!

One of the most exciting things to ever happen to me in my writing career also happened this month. We're talking, just about ties with the time Meg Cabot blurbed my book (I'll never stop mentioning that! :-) ). My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours was a BESTSELLER for Scholastic Book Fairs!!! I still get giddy thinking about it.

In MARCH I got advanced copies of my third book, Just Your Average Princess, in the mail.

I sold Korean rights to The Espressologist this month too. I also did an hour long interview for author Dyanne Davis's cable writing show. That was so fun and I couldn't stop staring at the monitor. Total amateur!

In APRIL a super creative book club threw a Fauxpresso night to talk about The Espressologist. And I attended the annual Author Fair in Bolingbrook, IL. I also sold Indonesian rights to The Espressologist.

(picture from http://www.iheartmonster.com)

In MAY, I had what I call my Justin Bieber moment when I went to talk to a group of 4th grade girl scouts and they screamed when I held up my book cover. Again, I owe this to Scholastic Book Fairs. I don't think any of them would know who I was if they didn't see my book in their fairs.

In JUNE, I went to Chicago's Printer's Row to do a panel with some really great authors. It was so much fun, I hope to do it again.

In JULY and AUGUST I was busily brainstorming and writing proposals. I outlined a really fun YA and several middle grades. And I was also busily writing The Paparazzi Project (hopefully my fourth book!). 

In SEPTEMBER I participated in Anderson's 8th Annual Young Adult Literature Conference. This was another super fun day full of panels and getting to sign my new book (that wouldn't release still for several weeks).

Reviews of the new book started to trickle in too. Here's one from VOYA.

OCTOBER was an especially great month because my third book, JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS released.

And I also got to go on a fantastic writing retreat with Deena and Emily to Frankenmuth, MI. Frankenmuth is a super cute Christmas village kind of town that everyone should experience at least once. And I got the first three chapters of my new middle grade written here too.

In NOVEMBER, I was a revising fool. I spent every free moment I had whipping The Paparazzi Project into shape to have it done by Thanksgiving. Also this month I sold Czech Republic rights to The Espressologist and my short story "Cart Princess" came out in THE FIRST TIME anthology of 25 awesome YA authors. It's only $2.99 and you should totally buy it. But if you want to read my story for free right now, go to the Amazon link and click on "Look Inside". It's the first story in the anthology. :-)

And in DECEMBER, I did nothing! Seriously! I guess I sorta took the month off and concentrated on Christmas parties, wrapping gifts, cookie making, coffee drinking, Christmas concerts & plays. But now it's back to work for me! I hope to have great news to share in 2012! And share your great news with us too!

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

2011: A Recap Odyssey (or Everyone Else is Doing It, So Why Can't We?*)

*with apologies to The Cranberries

Tip of the Day, Librarian Edition: Books are not coasters. Please do not use them as such. Thank you for your support.

It's that time of year -- the beginning! And time to reflect on the previous year.

In 2011, I read 178 books. To see my favorite four, check out my LiveJournal. Wow. So many great titles came out in 2011. Here's to many more in 2012!

And now for my month-by-month recap of the highlights:

January
--Successfully threw Dad a surprise 80th birthday party
--Sent my newly completed YA to my agent (FASHION)
--Started writing a new YA (the one that would become BLACKOUT)

February
--Got revision notes from agent on FASHION
--Stopped writing BLACKOUT to revise FASHION
--Sent revision back to agent
--Repeat

March
--FASHION goes out on sub
--Traveled to San Francisco to visit sibs; stopped by the legendary Books, Inc. bookstore

April
--Had planned on writing a proposal for BLACKOUT (synopsis and 50 pages), but I liked it so much I kept on writing
--Wedding dress purchased

May
--Rochester Teen Book Fest! Got to hang with awesome authors Selene Castrovilla, Shari Maurer, and many others
--Accepted as a new VOYA reviewer!
--Trip to Rhode Island with librarian friends
--Bridal shower, Paint-Your-Own-Pottery style
--Have received a handful of rejections on FASHION since March
--Still writing BLACKOUT
--Dad breaks his shoulder

June
--Dad-in-law breaks his arms
--Dad breaks his hip
--Try to keep the wedding jitters together despite the broken bones(!)

July
--Wedding!
--Send what I have of BLACKOUT to my agent
--Agent gets back to me that she doesn't love BLACKOUT and offers revision feedback
--FASHION has pretty much come back with a dozen rejections; editors "like the writing but contemporary realistic fiction is a hard sell right now"
--Revise BLACKOUT, a darker book of a speculative nature that I hope will resonate better with editors in this market

August
--Continue revising BLACKOUT

September
--Send revised BLACKOUT's first 60 pages to my agent
--European honeymoon!
--Read part of a novel on our new-to-us iPad with its Kindle ap on the airplane for my first time

October
--My agent still doesn't connect to BLACKOUT; after two years and two books that haven't sold, we amicably part ways
--Writing Retreat Weekend with Emily and Tina in Frankenmuth, MI!
--I sub FASHION to a few more editors on my own
--Decide to have BLACKOUT polished and ready to query new agents by December 1.

November
--Plow through revisions of BLACKOUT, excited to complete this book

December
--Send queries to agents on BLACKOUT
--A mix of rejections and requests for pages come from the queries
--Get a request from an editor for the full of FASHION
--Mom gets her MLS! Sibs come into town to celebrate
--Get a Nook for Christmas! Download and read my first full novel on an eReader.

Wow, it feels like a lot has happened when I put the whole year out there like that. Phew! Here's hoping for a busy, fun, successful 2012 to all of our blog readers!

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Settling in is just the beginning

Tip of the Day: Happy New Year to everyone! Thinking of writing resolutions and haven't done it yet. Check out the Top Ten Most Popular New Year's Resolutions.

So last year my goal for the year was to go with the flow. All I wanted writing wise was to finish working on some of my projects, submit to a few agents, and renew the joy of writing.

Easy peasy. List accomplished.

To be honest, I wasn't really in a writing mood at the beginning of last year. After just having moved twice within the space of a few months and starting a new job in a familiar-yet-new-again state, it was kind of a writing buzz kill.

As a result, much of 2011 was spent settling in. Both in life, work, and with writing. For the first time in a long time, I'm living in a location that might be semi-permanent and instead of feeling in limbo, I had to start searching for what I wanted out of life again. Which required some soul searching and a bit of growing up. Which I'm not fond of. But is necessary in life.

Now that I'm apparently older and wiser, it's much easier to say no to the things I don't want and focus more energy on things I do want.

In realizing this I was kind of afraid writing might get tossed to the side. After all it is hard work and rejection is never fun.

But instead while "going with the flow" throughout the year, I think I found my drive again. Writing started to look appealing. I started to hear tons of positive things about people indie publishing eBooks, which opened up new writing possibilities and something to get excited about. And I managed to work on a few of those projects and start submitting to agents again.

Still nothing major happened. But it laid the groundwork for something to happen!

And I’m very excited for what that means is in store for 2012. I'm motivated and determined, which is a good mix for me and hopefully that means big things will be coming my way with all the hard work. Because if the world is ending in December of this year as those End of the World People want you to believe, then why not go out with a bang, right? And if it's not, then at the end of the year we might as well be even more settled in and ready to do great things in 2013.

Happy New Year!

--Emily, Miss Determined Writer

Happy 2012!

Tip of the Day: Got an e-reader for the holidays? Check out this post on finding e-book deals.

Can you believe Author2Author has been "on the air" for four years? We have some very exciting plans for 2012, including introducing our newest Author2Author Miss, Megg Jensen. She'll be blogging every Friday, and you can see some of her book covers on the sidebar. We'll also be redesigning the site this winter in stages, so you'll see some small changes here and there.

This week, before Megg comes on the stage, we'll be recapping our year in writing for 2011. Was it what we expected? Oh, it never is!

I set a word each year for myself instead of a goal, and my word for 2011 was self-confidence. So naturally I got laid off from my day job in June. There were many personal challenges in my life, too. My father-in-law battled cancer with lots of help from my husband, finally losing his fight in May. In April, my youngest brother died suddenly. After all of this in the first half of the year, I was at loose ends in the second half. When you pick a word of the year, you often get challenged on it.

I started my new career as a freelance writer and editor. I had already been doing some fiction editing for Double Dragon Publishing, so that helped start the resume. I got an internship at Rhemalda Publishing, where I read manuscript submissions and help with publicity. That has been very educational and I can't wait to tell you all about it this year.

I received acceptances for two of my short stories from different places, one for an anthology and one for a magazine ... but NO CONTRACTS. How frustrating! So I can't make any announcements yet, other than to say I'm part of the frustrating waiting game now.

Other than that, I've been picking up ghostwriting work for short business ebooks and web copy. And naturally I've been working on my novel writing. So it's been a year of learning. Has my self-confidence increased? I think so. It's strange not driving into the city to work every day, but change is what keeps us growing. That may be something we all need to remember this year!

-- Kate, Miss Perfecting the Pages

Fun Friday: Happy Festivus!

Happy Last Fun Friday and Happy Festivus!

Happy Holidays! Exciting News to Share!

Tip of the Day: Folow us on twitter at @A2AGirls.

Happy Holidays everyone! This Christmas totally snuck up on me and now I'm scrambling to get everything ready. I'm so pumped for it though-- no Grinch around here!

As we've done in the past, the Author2Author girls are taking a break for the holiday and will be returning to begin our fifth year (Wow!) of blogging just after New Years and back on our regular M-F schedule.

And we've got some exciting changes! You've been following us on our writing path these past four years, through the good and bad and we thank you! And like I was talking about last week regarding how the industry is changing and how authors are more and more getting into self-publishing, we've decided to invite a rockstar epubber to join our group! Starting January 6th, Megg Jensen will be blogging every Friday! You can read up on Megg here and she'll also introduce herself on the 6th. But just to give you a little info on Megg, she's a best-selling epubber with two fantasy trilogies both in the US and internationally. We chat a lot and Megg knows SO MUCH about the epublishing industry and will be full of great tips and advice for our readers who may want to give epublishing a try. We're so excited to have her!

So have Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Kwanza and we'll see you in 2012!

Kristina, Miss Author in Action