Anatomy of a Book Launch, a 16-Day Book Tour, and a Red, Hot YA Giveaway!

by Martina Boone

Before I begin the recap, I’ve got a couple of lovely shout-out’s I’d love to share. First, Compulsion is in USA Today’s HEA Must-Read Paranormal’s post this morning. With Cassandra Clare. Um. YIKES! 😀

http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2014/11/10/recommended-paranormal-reads-singh-andrews-clare-brennan-boone/18809517/?hootPostID=60278520276c96f44a6a0f674a1f981f

Also, it’s the YA pick in the Goodreads’ November Best Books of the Month:

https://www.goodreads.com/featured_lists/131-best-books-of-the-month—november-2014?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=2014-11&utm_content=botm

As for the tour and launch celebration?

It’s OVER! Compulsion is out in the world, and I’m back from the Compelling Reads tour!

How do I feel?

Grateful, happy, sad, and TIRED. Seriously? I think I could sleep for a month. In addition to the fact that we literally did one or two events every day from 10/25 to 11/9 except for Halloween, I had to drive overnight on Sunday after the event to get home because my sheltie, Auggie, apparently was tired of Mom being gone and tried to commit suicide by chocolate. Yes, that’s a thing. If you don’t know that dogs can’t metabolize chocolate and that the caffeine can kill them, please take this as a cautionary tale. Fortunately, my daughter saw that he was in trouble and got him to the emergency vet clinic. He spent the night on an IV having full-body tremors, but he’s home now and doing well!

Apart from that near-disaster, the tour was AMAZING. I can’t say enough for how kind and wonderful all the booksellers were for hosting us and how lovely it was to meet the readers, bloggers, and aspiring authors who came out to see us. Several of them came to multiple events, even though the events were actually very far apart. That was mind-blowing and wonderful.

So without further ado, let me share some photos.

With Melissa Marr at B&N Fairfax, VA 10/25/14

With Lelia Nebeker from One More Page Books and Wendy Higgins
doing a Write With Us event at the Arlington Public Library on 10/26/14.

What I found on the shelf when I walked into One More Page books 10/27 🙂

Our poster at One More Page Books 10/27

Chatting with young readers, Wendy Higgins, Leah Cypess, and Melissa Marr

Book Dating moderated by the lovely Lelia Nebaker

With Jen from Jenuine Cupcakes, who

makes the BEST cupcakes on the planet

Tapas after our Ask Us Anything event at the Bethesda Library
hosted by Politics and Prose on 10/28. That’s Wendy Higgins,
Kimberley Griffiths Little, and Jessica Spotswood

At Barnes & Noble Charlottesville, VA 10/29 with Kristen-Paige Madonia,
Kimberley Griffiths Little, Joy N. Hensley, Diana Peterfreund, and Jodi Meadows

Belly dancing lessons courtesy of Kimberley Griffiths Little
at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, VA on 10/30/14

With Megan Shepherd, Meagan Spooner, Kimberley Griffiths Little,
S.E. Green, and Claudia Gray at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC on 11/1/14

Signing at Flyleaf Bookstore in Chapel Hill, NC 11/2/14

At the statue of Nina Simone in Tryon, NC with
Meagan Spooner, Claudia Gray, S.E. Green, and Kimberley Little

Write with Us event at the Lanier Library in Tryon 11/3/14

Young Tryon writer Savanah McCrohan finishing the story
we began at the Lanier Library

Book Dating with Meagan Spooner and the inimitable
Beth Revis at Malaprops in Asheville, NC 11/3/14

Generous donation from Josh Adams at Adams Literary Agency for the
ImaginOn Library in Charlotte, NC after our event there on 11/4.

Write with Us Event Fiction Addiction in Greenville, SC 11/5/14

With reader Moriah Chavis at Fiction Addiction

With Kimberley Griffiths Little, S. E. Green, bookseller Victoria Hurley,
Claudia Gray, and Tracy Clark at Books-a-Million in Columbia, SC 11/6

The gorgeous Books-a-Million Store with Kimberley. Jacqueline Bouvier Lee, the beautiful store manager,
was one of the definite highlights of the entire tour. She’s a force of nature.

The Justine Magazine review of Compulsion that greeted me face up at the
Justine Magazine booth at YALLFEST on 11/8! LOVED meeting all the Justine staff! : )
Oh, okay, I loved EVERYTHING about YALLFEST. Hats off to Blue Bicycle Books,
Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Andria Amaral and all the other organizers for pulling off another
amazing event filled with star-studded authors and dedicated readers.
So much fun to talk to fellow fans of YA books!

Our haul of raffle tickets at YALLFEST. What were they for? See below!

The MEGA basket of ALL THE BOOKS signed books by each of the YA Series Insiders
authors and a slew of other series authors. Twenty-two books in all! The basket was taken
home by Cat, pictured here with us! Cat also very kindly came out to see us on
Sunday at the Charleston County Public Library event!

Book Dating with Kimberley Griffiths Little, Tracy Clark, and
S.E. Green at the Charleston County Public Library. All the librarians, and
especially Andria Amaral, were absolutely beyond fantastic!

Stephanie Ehman (@OhanaReads) and her sister came down from Canada
for YALLFEST and came out to see us on Sunday at the library! LOVED meeting them!

There were tons of other highlights:

Having my beautiful Cici and Carol come out for the launch was incredible.
Meeting my critique partner of three years, editor extraordinaire Susan Sipal (@HP4Writers) for the first time in Raleigh! YAY!
Having the booksellers be so supportive and accommodating MADE the events a joy.
We loved being able to include all of our “booklorettes” in our programs.
Carrie Ryan, Jessica Khoury, and Stephanie Perkins also stopped by various events, which was incredible.
YALLFEST. What an incredible experience!
Meeting Fallon and Morgan from Book In Neverland–how do I not have pics of them?
Meeting Elizabeth, the lovely teacher who came to our Greenville and Charleston events, who turns out to be an alumni of St. Margaret’s where I did the Teen Reads Week school visit recently.
Meeting Jenn Scarpa and her beautiful family.
Seeing Jocelyn Rish (our newest AYAP blog contributor!).
Meeting the Justine Magazine staff–I mentioned that already, but it bears repeating.
Getting to visit Tryon and meet the lovely bookish folks who live there.
Hanging out with the INCREDIBLE authors on the tour!!!!! (My absolute favorite part of this adventure!)

I’ll stop here, because I could literally go on forever.

All in all, it was a whirlwind, and I’m sad that it’s over, grateful to have been part of the experience, and a bit relieved that I can sleep for a while. : )

Thank you so much to all the booksellers, librarians, readers, and most of all, the authors who made this possible! And thank you once again to my beyond incredible publisher, Simon Pulse. Honestly, there are no words to express my gratitude!

Ooops! Almost forgot the giveaway, guys!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Martina Boone

Martina Boone is the award-winning author of the romantic southern gothic Heirs of Watson Island series, starting with COMPULSION from Simon & Schuster, Simon Pulse and the Celtic Legends Collection of novels set in Scotland, Cornwall, and Ireland beginning with LAKE OF DESTINY. She’s passionate about improving lives through literacy and the love of books, and she runs the Compulsion For Reading program to distribute books to underserved schools and libraries.

She lives with her husband, children, Shetland Sheepdog Phinney, and Zoey the lopsided cat, and she enjoys writing contemporary romantic fiction with a hint of magic set in small towns and beautiful places. When she isn’t writing, she’s addicted to travel, horses, skiing, chocolate flavored tea, and anything with Nutella on it.

Post © Martina Boone and/or Adventures in YA Publishing. All rights reserved.

Posted: Nov 11, 2014

Category: Imported from AYAP

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The first slide is an animation of a science/magic room in a castle. A cartoon character of a mad-scientist looking man in in the foreground says: “Hello! Dr. Frankenstein here to say, Well Done on kid lit zombie week! I’m an expert at reviving the dead, and let me assure you, with a little spark, you can bring dead projects to life. Especially if you dig up parts from other dead things. I’ll even let you have a sneak peek at my laboratory’s store room to consider potential parts for your dead project. If you see something with a yellow glow, that means you should click it. Have fun!”

He points to the right side of the screen and a new scene slides in of a castle science/magic storage room. There are various cartoon Frankenstein body parts scattered around. Some of them have a yellow glow. If you click on them, the images below appear (I’ve added alt text to them, so I hope it works).

The Heart of your story is the main character. The protagonist is the beating core that truly brings your story to life. If your MC doesn't make kids (and their grown-ups) care within the first few pages, your story will flatline. </p>
<p>Your main character needs to be:<br />
• Relatable enough for kids to see themselves<br />
• Unique enough to stand out in the slush pile<br />
• Active enough to drive the story<br />
• Memorable enough to survive multiple readings at bedtime</p>
<p>Where do you find this amazing donor heart? It might be the very thing you loved so much about the manuscript you want to revive. It might be the younger sister from your shelved YA novel. Or maybe it’s the hilarious kid you blogged about meeting at a school visit. Find a character beating with potential and place it in the center of your story.<br />

The Brain of your story is the theme or central message. The theme is the big idea that controls everything else. Picture books are more than stories - they're tiny life lessons disguised with humor and heart.</p>
<p>But your theme needs to be:<br />
• Subtle enough not to trigger the dreaded "didactic" rejection<br />
• Clear enough for a four-year-old to grasp<br />
• Universal enough to speak to both kids and adults<br />
• Fresh enough to prevent agents and editors from responding with "Not another sharing/bedtime/first-day story!"</p>
<p>Check your other dead manuscripts to see if there is a recurring theme, something that really seems to be speaking to you. Find the bit of poetry you scribbled on the back of a receipt to see what theme inspired it. Reread the pep talk you texted your critique partner at 1am. Pick the theme that will drive your story, giving it purpose, direction, and deeper meaning.<br />

The Legs of your story is the plot. Not to be confused with a grave plot.🤪 The plot is what keeps everything upright and moving, as well as providing support for all the other elements. You have very few words to use in a picture book, so you need to do a lot with each plot point.</p>
<p>In general, your plot should:<br />
• Hook readers fast<br />
• Build tension that a child can follow<br />
• Create page turns that feel natural<br />
• Wrap up in a way that satisfies</p>
<p>You can borrow a plot twist (a leg) from one manuscript and the opening (the other leg) from a different manuscript. Consider if the subplot of the middle grade novel you trunked would work better as a picture book. Or maybe your Facebook post about a disastrous camping trip could become a story for kids. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other until you have your storyline.

The Arms of your story are the side characters.

The Torso of your story is the setting. Setting helps a story breathe and connects all the elements of the story. It isn't just where your story lives, it's what makes your story ALIVE. It's the difference between "this happened in a park" and "this happened in that park, the one with the twisty slide that burns your legs and the creaky swing that sounds like a baby crying.”</p>
<p>Your setting should:<br />
• Make your character's world feel real<br />
• Contain your story in a way that makes sense to young readers<br />
• Connect different scenes and moments organically<br />
• Give your illustrator enough room to add visual subplots</p>
<p>Half-finished manuscripts are a great place to dig up settings, since you worked out the place details before the plot petered out. Or maybe you had to cut a second fantastic location from your chapter book. You can also revisit the detailed caption from your Instagram carousel documenting your tour of that delish candy shop. Disinter a robust setting that can house all of your story's vital organs.

After you press the Click When Done circle button, the lights flash with the sound of electricity buzzing. Then the screen goes black and lightning zaps across the screen with the sound of thunder.

The screen then lights up to show the storage room, and all the Frankenstein pieces have been assembled into the whole monster. An upbeat song plays in the background. Then a speech bubble pops up with the words, “I’m alive! I’M ALIVE!” Then the screen goes to black.

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