I was there to present Witchlanders in a three-minute infomercial with 34 other authors at CANSCAIP’s annual OLA book launch for Canadian children’s books.

While there, I was delighted to learn that Witchlanders was chosen for inclusion on the prestigious OLA Best Bets for Kids and Teens List!  (When the full list is posted, I’ll add the link.)

Here are some photographs of the event.

Wonderful Authors:

Martin Springett signing posters for Kate & Pippin.

Sylvia McNicoll signing Crush. Candy. Corpse.

Marina Cohen signing Chasing the White Witch.

Kevin Sylvester signing his next Neil Flambé mystery.

Mahtab Narsimhan signing The Tiffin.

Editor Love!

Author Natalie Hyde with Fitzhenry and Whiteside editor, Christie Harkin.

Author Teresa Toten with Lynne Missen, publishing director of Penguin Canada Young Readers.

Librarian Love!

Author/Librarian Joel Sutherland and Scars author Cheryl Rainfield.

Publicist Love!

Here I am at the Simon & Schuster Canada booth with lovely marketing associate, Michelle Blackwell.

The CANSCAIP Launch

Crowds waited with baited breath for the CANSCAIP launch to begin.

Vladyana Krykorka presents her new board book series: Arctic Sea, Arctic Land and Arctic Sky with the help of CANSCAIP AD Jennifer Gordon.

Maureen McGowan presents Cinderella Ninja Warrior and Sleeping Beauty Vampire Slayer.

Later that weekend…

And then, because we just can’t get enough of each other, many of the same authors who were at OLA reconvened on Sunday at Bakka Phoenix Books for the launch of Megan Crewe’s chilling dystopian novel, The Way We Fall.

L-R: Helaine Becker, Mahtab Narsimhan, Jackie Garlick-Pynaert, Karen Krossing.

Megan Crewe

Awesome swag.

Phew!  Now I need another weekend to rest up!

I’ve updated my Upcoming Events section, but in case you are too tired, lazy or jaded to click on the link, here’s what I’ll be doing in February!

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Going to OLA? Come see me and 25 other authors present their books!

This February 1st to 4th, the Ontario Library Association’s Super Conference 2012 will be in Toronto at the Metro Convention Centre.  CANSCAIP, the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers, will be hosting its annual mega book launch at noon on Friday the 3rd.  I’ll be there with Witchlanders in hand.  It should be awesome!
12:00 in the
EXPO Theatre

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

Canadian Kids’ Lit Quiz

I’m so excited! Have a look at the Kids’ Lit Quiz website to find out all about this exciting event.  I’ll be on the “Awesome Authors” team with Gillian O’Reilly, Anne Dublin and Philippa Dowding.  We are SO going to grind those kids into the ground.  Just kidding.  Not.

John Ross Robertson Public School
12:30 

That’s right, all you new followers from the Fairies and Fantasy Giveaway.  I’m a Brontë nerd.  Get used to it!

I took the test myself and I’m Charlotte.  (Whaaaa? I wanna be Emily!) As you can see, each result has a picture and a little bio at the end. I hope you enjoy it because I had a lot of fun making it.  Many thanks to the people at Rum & Monkey for making it so easy.  And free!

You are Charlotte Brontë!
Take Which Bronte Sibling Are You? today!
Created with Rum and Monkey‘s Personality Test Generator.

Valerie Redfern!!!  Woo-hooo!

Congratulations Valerie, and thank you all so much for entering!

Megan’s new book, The Way We Fall will be coming out on January 24th.  You can read more about it at the end of this post.

The Truth about Trends

by Megan Crewe

Hang out in writerly circles for very long, and you’ll hear conversation turn toward trends. What genres and topics are publishers scrambling to get more of? Which are almost impossible to sell? Should you try to match your writing to what’s currently hot, or veer off in a new direction?

It’s hard not to be tempted by the idea that there are strategies (beyond simply writing well) that will make it easier to get your book published. And authors don’t agree on the answer. Some attribute their success to paying attention to what’s selling and writing the sort of books publishers have shown they want. Others say that by the time you notice a trend, it’s likely too late to join in before the market’s saturated, so you’re just wasting your time.

I don’t think there is a right answer. Opinions are divided because experiences are divided. I’ve seen for myself that trends can both help and hurt your chances of getting published.

See, in 2008 I was feeling pretty confident about myself as a writer. I’d sold one book, and I figured that meant getting published would be a lot easier from here on. The next novel I wrote was a paranormal YA like my debut, but the story was bigger, and more action-y, and it was intended to be the first in a trilogy. My then-agent was super excited about it. She put it on submission at the end of the year.

At the time, paranormal was the biggest thing in YA fiction. But that book of mine was on sub for sixteen months, and never even made it as far as an acquisitions meeting. Editors were saying they had too much paranormal on their lists already, that there was no room for more.

Around the beginning of 2010, I started writing another book: a survival story about a girl in a quarantined island community struggling to survive a deadly epidemic. I hadn’t seen any recent YA books with a similar premise, and that made the idea all the more appealing.

I was about halfway through the first draft when the dystopian trend took off like a rocket. Suddenly there were several new dystopian YA sales being reported every week. My first response was panic. Even though my book wasn’t technically dystopian, I knew that with its end of the world scenario, it would be seen as part of that genre. I had the sinking feeling that by the time I got the book finished and polished, it would be like the paranormal book all over again–except worse, because this time I needed to find a new agent as well. I could already imagine both agents and editors saying, “Sorry, we’ve already got too many books like this.”

Despite those worries, I still loved the story. I didn’t have some other story I was equally excited about begging to get written. So I kept going, deciding I might as well give it a shot.

I started querying in the late spring of 2010. Three weeks later, I had a new agent. Less than a month after that, he’d sold THE WAY WE FALL at auction in a three book deal.

What was the difference between THE WAY WE FALL and my unsold paranormal, then? It was probably partly the age of the trend. When I was trying to sell the paranormal trilogy, that genre had been hot for a few years already, so there’d been lots of time for publishers’ lists to fill up. With TWWF, I happened to catch the dystopian wave close to the beginning. It might have been harder to sell now than it was a year and a half ago.

Or maybe not. Because I suspect another factor is that TWWF is a better book. Plenty of paranormal novels sold after mine was turned down. When you’re writing in a genre that’s trendy, lots of other people are too, and that means a book that’s not quite up to snuff will have a very hard time finding a home.

And of course there are always the mysterious factors of getting the book to the right editor at the right time in the right mood… Which is totally beyond the author’s control.

The lesson I’ve come away with is, yes, trends can help you, and they can hurt you. The problem is you can’t know which it’s going to be ahead of time. So my strategy is to write whatever story I’m most passionate about, without worrying about whether it’s too close to or too far from what’s currently trendy. I’m most likely to write a good story if I’m passionate about it, and a good story is always more likely to sell than a bad one. And hey, I’ll probably be happier along the way!

The Way We Fall
(from Goodreads)

It starts with an itch you just can’t shake. Then comes a fever and a tickle in your throat. A few days later, you’ll be blabbing your secrets and chatting with strangers like they’re old friends. Three more, and the paranoid hallucinations kick in.

And then you’re dead.

When a deadly virus begins to sweep through sixteen-year-old Kaelyn’s community, the government quarantines her island—no one can leave, and no one can come back.

Those still healthy must fight for dwindling supplies, or lose all chance of survival. As everything familiar comes crashing down, Kaelyn joins forces with a former rival and discovers a new love in the midst of heartbreak. When the virus starts to rob her of friends and family, she clings to the belief that there must be a way to save the people she holds dearest.

Because how will she go on if there isn’t?

Megan Crewe crafts a powerful and gripping exploration of self-preservation, first love, and hope. Poignant and dizzying, this heart-wrenching story of one girl’s bravery and unbeatable spirit will leave readers fervently awaiting the next book in this standout new series.

On Cynsations, check out my interview with award-winning Canadian author Alan Cumyn on TILT, his first YA novel.  Erections, first sexual encounters, sexual identity…Alan doesn’t shy away from tough subjects.  Have a look!

On One A Day YA I talk about my most memorable moment of 2011.  And it ISN’T about WITCHLANDERS!  What could have been more memorable than publishing my first novel?  Find out here. (The picture accompanying this post is a bit of a clue.  No, I didn’t meet Emily Bronte.)

Since I’ve been doing so much guest posting, my usual Wednesday post will be written by someone else.  Won’t tell you who, but stop back tomorrow for a real treat!

I love YA fantasy.  That’s why I jumped at the chance to participate in this blog hop, where over 100 YA fantasy novels are being given away!

Here at my own little blog, I’ll be giving away a signed copy of my debut novel, Witchlanders, out last fall from Atheneum Books for Young Readers.  If you’d like to enter, just comment below and get an extra entry for tweeting or facebooking about the contest (with a link to this website in the tweet or post) or following me at the right via Google Friend Connect.  (Don’t forget to tell me in the comment what extra entries you’ve done–only two extras, please!)

Then check out the bottom of this post for a list of all the fabulous blogs that are participating.  You can hop from one to the other, entering as many giveaways as you like!

Here’s what my book, Witchlanders, is about:

High in their mountain covens, red witches pray to the Goddess, protecting the Witchlands by throwing the bones and foretelling the future.

It’s all a fake.

At least, that’s what Ryder thinks. He doubts the witches really deserve their tithes—one quarter of all the crops his village can produce. And even if they can predict the future, what danger is there to foretell, now that his people’s old enemy, the Baen, has been defeated?

But when a terrifying new magic threatens both his village and the coven, Ryder must confront the beautiful and silent witch who holds all the secrets. Everything he’s ever believed about witches, the Baen, magic and about himself will change, when he discovers that the prophecies he’s always scorned—

Are about him.

If you’d like to know more or read some reviews, go here.

Now go blog hopping!  I know I am!  Here is the list of  PARTICIPATING BLOGS.  And thanks so much to Kathy at I’m A Reader, Not a Writer and Velvet at vvb32reads for hosting this hop and thinking up this fabulous idea!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.  The winner is announced here!

Check out the trailer for THE WAY WE FALL while we all wait impatiently for my birthday (or is that just me?) You can also win a copy of it here.  How hilarious is it that Megan is giving away THE WAY WE FALL hand sanitizer as part of her swag!

Any suggestions for other books I should treat myself with?

UT Literature Center: Great Books for Kids to Read during Holiday Season