kelly_parra

Teen Fiction Cafe is celebrating a 3 Year Anniversary!! Our great group of authors are blogging and giving away goodies to lucky visitors.

Today I compiled a short list of what happened 3 years ago and what I've learned. I'm offering up a copy of Graffiti Girl or Invisible Touch if you share something positive that happened to you about 3 years ago.


Winners for each giveaway will be chosen after March 13th--so comment away!!

Last week, I was twittering and read fellow YA author Sara Zarr's declaration of an Internet hiatus. See her blog post here.

I suddenly felt like that would be awesome for me, to just take a holiday break for the next month or so from networking and feeling like I have to be creative with what to say.

The truth is, I've entered a personal winter mode. Holiday shopping is pretty much finished and I'll have activities with the kids. I want to watch movies and read books and dream up story ideas!

So yes, I'm following Sara in her break. No twittering or blogging. I have a couple more weeks to post on YA Fresh but Tina will be guiding that ship for the next month.

So if you need to reach me you can by email. And I'll see you some time in January of 2010. :)

Happy Holidays,

Kelly

I think it's about time to share what I am thankful for this holiday season. Above all, I am extremely thankful for my family and our good health. This is one thing I will never take for granted.

I am also thankful for the two books I was allowed to publish. I think many of us know 2009 has been an incredibly hard year with the recession and the effects on everything as well as publishing.

I am thankful for all the readers who have taken the time to read my books and who have posted a review or dropped me an email.

I am thankful for the unique writers and publishing people I have met in person and on-line.

Writing what I'm thankful for makes me think of the past and the future.

Next year I will be starting fresh with my career in many more ways than I ever expected. I have learned many things these past three years. And one thing that is for certain is that building my writing career has been one of the hardest things I've had to fight for. There have been times I have thought maybe this is not the path I am supposed to take. Maybe there are signs telling me: Writing is not for you, Kelly!! (haha)

I believe once I sold my Romantic Suspense and YA, things changed. I had to look at marketing as a job along with writing. I had to look at pleasing more people than just myself with my stories.

With the business part of publishing, the love for storytelling was shoved aside. And that is something a writer cannot lose.

When I started blogging in 2005, I was a lot more positive. I had dreams in my eyes and during the last two years I've become more grounded. I've learned. I've experienced what works and what doesn't. I've realized what's important and what isn't. I've changed. It's sort of like looking back at a younger version of myself and smiling at my silly innocence. Sounds a little dramatic, yet spot on.

In 2010 I will start my year as a realistic writer, knowing each writer has his/her own path. Some easier than others, and some extremely rough. And that I will have to work even harder to reach my new personal and professional goals. That I will finish my next book and write the best story I can.

So I will close with good writing to you and Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends. :) Thanks for reading.

"Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience." — Victoria Holt

~Kelly

I had a writer's epiphany today. A parent wrote a review for Graffiti Girl saying how much her 13-year-old enjoyed GG. It made me feel great. Just the other day someone was telling me how some of my older relatives couldn't get into GG, that they liked Invisible Touch better.

The thing is when I wrote each book, I aimed for different audiences.

When I wrote GG, I wanted to write a book that kids in high school and middle grade wanted to read. I had a terrible time in high school getting through some of the classics as a teen. As an adult I can sit down and find all the themes and beautiful messages that I missed before because at a young age I felt forced to read them.

When I wrote Invisible Touch, I wanted to try to reach the young reader and possible some older readers. And it seemed I did reach some of those older readers too.

I have to admit, I'm not a literary writer. I enjoy stories with action, great and unique characters, and entertaining story lines. I may never be a literary writer, but I may be an entertainer writer for kids, and I may be the author kids want to read. I can only hope and do my best.

So my epiphany? I need to go with my strengths. I want to write for kids. I want to write entertaining reads that have kids turning the pages, and connect with characters their age.

I still consider myself a newbie writer. I'm still learning new things and techniques. I'm still on my writer journey and learning small and tough lessons.

Lesson learned.

I need to be myself. :)

I wasn't going to show this vlog until Friday with the Readergirlz Teen Read Week Celebration, but I thought this was the right time to show you the real me.

Kinda silly, not very sophisticated, and with untamable hair. *wink*

"If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad." ~ Lord Byron

"A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket." ~ Charles Peguy

"If I fall asleep with a pen in my hand, don't remove it - I might be writing in my dreams." ~ Danzae Pace

"Easy reading is damn hard writing." ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say." ~ Anaïs Nin

It's time again for another Invisible Touch short story with Kara and Anthony. Here's a quick Halloween scene from Kara's sign-seeing world for author Jeri Smith-Ready's month long Blogtoberfest, with many more cool authors and giveaways. So check back to the fest all month long!

In the mean time, read about Kara, Anthony, and a little ghost...and leave a comment to enter to win a copy of Invisible Touch. Contest ends October 16th!

But wait--there's more just in time for Halloween! (haha)

Three more chances to win at Free Book Friday Teen! Read my interview with Jessica Brody and leave a comment to win Touch by October 16th!


Thanks!

~Kelly

The Federal Trade Commission is taking a stand on Book Reviewers and Bloggers with "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials". And it's pretty detailed and confusing.

According to Publisher's Lunch:

"The main point of essence for book publishers, and book bloggers and online reviewers, is the determination that "bloggers may be subject to different disclosure requirements than reviewers in traditional media." They judge that "a blogger's statement on his personal blog or elsewhere (e.g., the site of an online retailer of electronic products) qualifies as an 'endorsement,' -- i.e., as a sponsored message -- due to...the value of the merchandise he has received and has been asked to review by that advertiser," and that such a connection must be disclosed.

In other words, bloggers--as well as "reviewers" posting to sites like Amazon and LibraryThing, or receiving books through programs ranging from Bzz Agent to Nelson's 10,000-blogger initiative--who are writing about a book after receiving a free reviewer's copy are expected to disclose that information. And publishers who "sponsor these endorsers (either by providing free products - directly or through a middleman - or otherwise) in order to generate positive word of mouth and spur sales should establish procedures to advise endorsers that they should make the necessary disclosures and to monitor the conduct of those endorsers."

Wow.

I haven't read through the 80 page document, but apparently even if you "tweet" about it, you have to say if you've been given the book freely. Now if you get the book free and then give it away that's not a lasting compensation. However, if you link as a affiliate (i.e. amazon) when you've gotten the book free, you could be fined. Here on LJ, I haven't endorsed books in a while, but on YA Fresh I do so a lot and now I'll have to say whether I've been mailed a book or purchased it myself. I'll certainly only be linking as an affiliate to my own books from now on.

You can download the document here. These new guidelines will be put into effect on December 1, 2009. Read more updates on the galley cat at the following links:

FTC Blogger Rules Carry $11K Fines

Book Publishers, Bloggers, & the FTC Guidelines

Who Gets to Be an Online Book Reviewer?

An Open Letter to the FTC

Mind boggling.

The producers of Graffiti Girl came across this graffiti piece photo. "Grafangel" is my character Angel's tag in Graffiti Girl. I thought this was cool to see. :)

It is Hispanic Heritage Month and Reading in Color is holding a cool giveaway of 8 titles for readers, including Graffiti Girl and Invisible Touch!

In honor of Hispanic Heritage month I'm giving away 8 books with Latino/a main characters!

There will be 5 winners. The first winner will pick 3 books, the 2nd winner will pick 2 books and the other winners will each get one.

Ends: Thursday Oct. 8 at 11:59 PM CT

Open: Internationally (some authors are mailing the books to the winners, those books are only open to U.S. residents. A * means it's open to U.S. residents only)

Read more details here and enter. Good luck!

I was reading the comments on my agent’s latest blog entry, "Agent’s Get Rejected Too," and read a comment that had me shaking my head. I’ve been reading Pubrants since 2006. Kristin has blogged on this topic before. In fact, she’s received many generous and encouraging comments over the years. Among these comments, she’s also received rude comments, some that are way off the wall, and some that are just plain bitter. But she’s told me everyone’s entitled to his/her opinion so she rarely censors the comments.

Here is the comment by anonymous that recently caught my eye:

I'm guessing, though, that you get the courtesy of a personal, timely response when you're rejected, and not a faintly xeroxed form letter which takes at least six months to arrive.

Ouch.

This anonymous writer is actually taking his/her frustrations out on an open forum, and not even directing it toward NLA, since they are straight electronic these days.

I’m telling you now, as a writer, rejection is part of the job. And the waiting is a huge part of the job, whether you are waiting on a response on a submission from an agent or an editor . With my first book, a publishing house had my book well over six months. And it took me nearly a year to sell it. A year of waiting and wondering and hoping.

And because my agent has a good size client list, we have to wait to receive her feedback on a project since there are all kind of issues that have priority if other writers have deadlines or she’s backed up with deals and contracts.

If you sell a book, it’s a waiting game to get your contract fine-tuned and signed, to hear from your editor regarding edits because they have other books on a schedule before you, to even get paid your first check.

Then your release date can be slotted for 1-2 years from the date of sale.

Lots and lots of waiting.

Tick-tock-tick-tock.

All I’m saying is, I know the waiting is harder than you might have expected, but you have fight to not to let the bitterness get to you. You have to be like Luke Skywalker and suck yourself back from the dark side, because that darkness can fester. It can block you and get you down.

In this business, you have to look for the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. You have to keep your eye on your goal. Even with two books under my belt, I’m still trying to reach goals, and yeah, there are times I have to beat the dark side off with a stick. *wink*

So come on, guys, if you're a writer, you're in it for the long haul.

With all the waiting, and more waiting, and more waiting, and all.