MORE AMAZING NEWS

So back in 2012 I wrote this blog post on why I've yet to write a sequel, in which I said, "I like to think of writing a sequel as a reward, or a celebration of sorts. You see, I've made this unwritten pact with myself that I won't write a sequel until I've sold a book, so the ability to write a series has, in a sense, become a sort of milestone for me."

I kept this unwritten pact with myself for years. And then last month I got some really amazing news that I've been sitting on impatiently but now I can FINALLY share it and I'm SO EXCITED because:

In case you can't read it! It says!

"Ava Jae's INTO THE BLACK and THE RISING GOLD, the second and third book in the BEYOND THE RED trilogy, wherein an heir to the world throne is abducted by a rebel group of redbloods who won't release him until he swears to help them overthrow the very government he's inheriting, forcing an alien ex-queen and a skilled prince-turned-bounty hunter to attempt to find him before it's too late for both the future king and his kingdom, to Nicole Frail, at Sky Pony Press, for publication in Fall 2017 and 2018, by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency (World). Foreign: Biagi Literary Management Film: The Kohner Agency" 

In other words THERE WILL BE MORE BEYOND THE RED BOOKS! TWO OF THEM! AHHHH!

I'm feeling like

and

and also

Basically I'm really friggin' excited about it and I can't wait to share more of Kora and Eros's journey with everyone and fiiiinally be able to answer questions about sequels with YES, THERE WILL BE MORE I PROMISE.

Also I guess now I can say the WIPThing I've been tweeting about first drafting is in fact Into the Black (book two!). And it's been so fun to write. I'm really, really psyched about it and doubly so now that I can say you'll all be able to read it in Fall 2017. Next year! YAY! And you can add them both on Goodreads here and here!

So a million thanks to my agent Louise Fury and editor Nicole Frail for making this possible and also my CPs and betas who answered my call for quick edits when working on proposal stuff and damn, I am one happy camper. Thank you. 

And to every reader and reviewer—you guys made this possible too by supporting Red. Seriously, without your support—from buying to checking it out at the library to reviewing to sending tweets—this would not be happening. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

On to 2017! :D

Vlog: BEYOND THE RED Unboxing!

So two Fridays ago my editor sent me a vaguely book-shaped mystery package. And so this vlog was born. :)

Bonus: Inside the book tour!

RELATED LINKS: 

• BEYOND THE RED Pre-order Giveaway!
• All About BEYOND THE RED (Part 1) (vlog)
• All About BEYOND THE RED (Part 2) (vlog)
• 2016 YA Debuts I'm Excited About (vlog)
• Exciting Things + Guest Post Contest!

Twitter-sized bite: 

Watch @Ava_Jae see the finished copy of her debut for the first time, plus a sneak peek inside BEYOND THE RED! (Click to tweet)

Pub Life: Starting to Feel Real

So last week, as many of you know, YA Books Central revealed Beyond the Red’s cover. Shortly before that Red was listed online at B&N, Amazon, BAM!, IndieBound and more, and is now available for pre-order.

On Sunday, I had my author photos taken. And on Monday, these came in:

OMG OMG THEY'RE HERE. The swag! I have it. 😁 #booknerdigans #bookstagram #BtRed #beyondthered #YA #SciFi #books

A photo posted by Ava Jae (@ava_jae) on Aug 3, 2015 at 9:02am PDT

I've started signing them this week.

So it begins... One down, too many to count to go! :) #books #writersofinstagram #writerlife #booknerdigans #BtRed #BeyondTheRed #bookmark

A photo posted by Ava Jae (@ava_jae) on Aug 3, 2015 at 4:59pm PDT

On Friday I’ll be headed off to Chicago for Chapter One Young Writers Conference, where I’ll be speaking (speaking!! as a speaker!!) to some awesome writerly teens about being a teen writer.

So much has been happening the past couple weeks, I’ve been getting a little overwhelmed. But I’m okay! And I’m happy. And totally in awe because this year is more than halfway over and 2016 is very quickly arriving.

And you know? I may not have ARCs yet and I know there’s still a ton of work to be done before next March. But things are slowly starting to feel real. And the more I start to see my cover pop up places I wasn’t expecting, and people I don’t know talk about my book, and the more I start to think about marketing, and events, and what 2016 is going to look like, the more it’s starting to sink in that this is actually happening. This is real. And I couldn’t be more grateful.

I love this job. Even when I’m an anxious wreck anticipating something, or I’m wondering how I’m going to get something done on time, I love this. Even as I anticipate stepping out of my comfort zone and introducing myself to people—something that does not come naturally to me at all—I’m so delighted to finally have the opportunity to do the stuff I dreamed about doing for ages.

It’s scary. And exciting. And sometimes, quite frankly, more stressful than my brain wants to handle. But things are starting to happen, and I wouldn’t trade this for anything.

Slowly, but surely, it’s all starting to feel real.

Have you been doing anything exciting this summer?

Twitter-sized bite:

Curious about life as a pre-pubbed debut author? @Ava_Jae shares how the pub life is starting to feel real. (Click to tweet) 

AMAZING NEWS

You guys.

You guys!

YOU GUYS!

LOOK.

Okay, it's kind of cut off so in case you can't read it, it saysss...

"Ava Jae's debut BEYOND THE RED, in which a feud on a distant, crimson planet with established nanite technology creates a violent uprising that threatens the reign of a teenage queen and forces her to turn to her rebel half-blood bodyguard for help, before the planet's human population is destroyed at the hands of her power-hungry twin brother, to Nicole Frail at Sky Pony Press, in a nice deal, for publication in early 2016, by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency in association with Rachel Brooks of the L. Perkins Agency (World)." 

AHHH!

I don’t really even know what to say besides

and

and also a whole lotta

My book is going to be a thing! That you can all read! In early 2016! I’m going to be a published author! AHHHH!

It’s so crazy to me that in a little over a year, I’ll be able to hold my book. In my hand. And you guys can read it. AND IT'LL BE IN HARDCOVER. (*SQUEEE*)

You can also add it to your Goodreads shelf HERE. (I can't believe I can actually say that. WHAT IS THIS LIFE?).

SO. MUCH. EXCITEMENT.

I will probably at some point write a more coherent post about this, but in the meantime I want to thank my incredible agent Louise Fury, and Team Fury and Rachel Brooks who all put so much time and amazing hard work into making this book amazing and believing in it, and selling it and I just—GROUP HUG, OKAY GUYS?

Also my CPs.

Also you guys.

Also just the whole incredibly amazing writing community who are my favorite online community ever.

THANK YOU.

Writing Tip: Maximize Your Excitement

Photo credit: threephin on Flickr

Usually when we talk about excitement and writing, we tend to think about pacing and keeping our readers invested and interested in the story. And while both of those elements are undoubtedly important, I want to talk about the other side of the curtain. 

That is, you, the writer. 

Completing a novel from first to final draft is a grueling business. It requires months or years of dedication, hard work and motivation to finish something that has no guarantee of leaving your computer. It’s exhausting, sometimes frustrating and often rewarding, but to reach completion, it requires a little extra ingredient that we don’t often talk about. 

That’s right: I’m talking about excitement. 

There’s no doubt in my mind that I do my best writing and editing when I’m excited to work. When I’m eager to get started, or get to that next scene, or edit these words until they shine like The Great Pyramids of Giza in 2500 B.C. When I’m excited to write, it doesn’t feel like work—even if I’m struggling with the words, as long as I can hold on to that little spark inside, the struggle doesn’t seem so bad because I’m doing something I’ve been excited about doing. 

And the importance of being excited about your work doesn’t end when you’ve revised the final page to a glistening shine— it should overflow into your query letters and pitches and tweets to the world about your awesome book. Because the truth is, no one is going to get excited about your work if you aren’t excited about it first. 

I’m not saying that you can’t be nervous, and I’m not saying that you have to be excited about it every day, in fact, I doubt that’s going to be the case (although if it is, more power to you). There are going to be days when you just don’t feel like writing. There are going to be weeks when you stare at the mountain of edits you have to accomplish and feel like throwing the manuscript out the window. And the thing is, that’s ok. It’s normal. 

But if you can remind yourself how it felt when that initial spark of excitement about your new project hit, or when you had that flutter in your stomach after writing a particularly awesome scene, it can be a huge step towards getting back on track when you’re feeling down. 

And if you can hold on to that excited energy while you’re working on your WIP, or pitching it to agents and editors or selling it online, people will take notice. Because excitement is contagious—it leaks into your words and overflows into your smile and it makes people want to get in on it too. 

It makes people want to be excited with you. And that can make all the difference. 

Thinking back to your last (or current) WIP, at what point did you feel the most excited about your work? Share your experiences in the comments below!  

First Ever E-Book Cover Design Giveaway

Photo credit: Mine

So remember that exciting thing I hinted about on my New Years roundup post? Yep. This is it.

Writability is roughly a year and a half old and for one reason or another, I’ve never had a giveaway, so I thought this would be a really fun way to kick off the New Year and tell you guys about the re-launch of my book cover design services. So!

Some of you may remember way back when I announced that I am now officially accepting submissions for book cover design work. In short, I’m also an artist as well as a writer, so the opportunity to be able to combine my love for books with my love for art is one that I won’t pass up. For an example of some of my work (beside the cover mock-up used for this post), you can check out my deviantart page.

While there will be a new page describing all the new details and fiddly-bits soon, let me tell you about the awesome giveaway.

I want to design an e-book book cover, bookmark or banner for you. For free. Should you win, all you would have to pay for is the cost of any stock images you wanted to use (which are optional). Considering these services usually run plus a hundred dollars, I think it’s a pretty exciting opportunity. The only thing I would ask is that you let me show everyone your shiny new awesome cover by putting it in my portfolio.

The best part is winning is easy—all you have to do is enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below. There are tons of ways to gain entries, and if you’re a follower of this blog, then congratulations! You already qualify. All you have to do is submit your entry below.

Now some of you without books in need of e-book covers may be wondering whether or not to enter. Even if you don’t have a book, I can also create blog or website banners (book-related or not), or you could always create one for fun. It’s all up to you.

The giveaway will run throughout this entire month and the winner will be announced on Monday, February 4th.

So what are you waiting for?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Guest Post: How to Make Any Good Blog Great

Photo credit: Rangga Chandra on Flickr

So! I'm really excited because my guest post on ProBlogger is now officially live. Amazing, right? It's pretty amazing.

I wrote about how to make any good blog great, so if you blog, or are thinking about blogging, or just want to see how cool it is to have a blog post up on ProBlogger, you should check it out.

Also, I used this picture of pretty lights to let you know how excited I am.

Have a great weekend!