Christy Ottaviano Books

Where Are They Now: Lisa Schroeder

The kid lit community is typically a welcoming and nurturing place, and one individual who epitomizes this for me is the author Lisa Schroeder. She’s kind, sincere, generous with advice, and an excellent writer to boot. I was delighted to learn that we share an editor in the wonderful Christy Ottaviano who published Lisa’s latest middle grade novel, The Girl in the Tower (Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt). I love Lisa’s books and I love Christy’s books, so I will definitely be reading this newest one for sure! Lisa Schroeder was featured on Creative Spaces five years ago when her YA novel The Day Before was published, and you will be amazed at everything she has accomplished since then .… Read the rest

What Would Garrison Griswold Do?

(Cross-posted from EMU’s Debuts) I’ve been in the midst of making promotional plans for Book Scavenger. I’ve sought out advice from other authors on what they recommend and don’t recommend for your debut book, and the only bit of advice that everyone seems to agree on is this: The best thing you can do to promote your first book is write your next book. Okay, cool, I’m doing that! I have two more books scheduled to come out in 2016 and 2017, and I’m currently working on both simultaneously. One is in the outline/first draft stage, and the other is nearing the end of its second revision.… Read the rest

What To Do With Advance Reader Copies

The advance copies for Book Scavenger arrived!!!! Hooray! I often hear authors discussing what to do with their advance copies. Now that I’ve had approximately eight hours of experience with my ARCs, I feel equipped to give advice. So here is what I did. First, I opened the box: Then, I did some of this: Followed by this: And some of this: And then I got serious and did some of this: And this: And a little of this: This was a good one: And then there was this: And, finally, this: And there you have it, fellow and future authors. A bunch of ideas for what to do with your advance copies.… Read the rest

Book Scavenger: The Cover!

The cover of my debut novel, Book Scavenger, was previously revealed on Mr. Colby Sharp’s blog along with an interview, but I also wanted to share a bit about it here. When my editor emailed me with the name of the illustrator she had hired for Book Scavenger, I immediately googled her name: Sarah Watts. I was thrilled with what I found. Sarah is so talented, and her illustration style was exactly the direction I was hoping my publisher would go in. But appreciating someone’s artistic talent is not the same as knowing what your cover will look like. And then one day in November, my editor emailed me the final cover.… Read the rest

Resolutions, I’ve Had a Few

I’ve recently joined the Emu’s Debuts blog, a gathering of EMLA (Erin Murphy Literary Agency) clients who have books debuting in the near future and who blog about their experiences. Today was my first post and so I’m cross-posting it here. This post was in response to a question  Emu Debuter Laurie Ann Thomspon asked in her last post: “Do any of you do any kind of year-end self-review or forward-looking career planning?” If you aren’t familiar with the Emu’s Debuts blog, please come on over and visit! It’s a great resource for writers or for people interested in learning more about the publishing process.… Read the rest