Fun News

Hey, everyone. Finally I have climbed out from under the avalanche of interviews and web site creation. Nice to be back above ground. Tomorrow I'll post a recap of the tour and a list of everyone who has done reviews or interviews since my last update. In the mean time, some great news.

First, Water Keep is hiiting store shelves, so make sure and check in with your local bookseller.

Second, Amazon is now shipping Water Keep which means they are also posting reviews. If you'd take a minute to post a review or at least rate Water Keep, I'd really appreciate it.

Finally, my interview on Channel 4, Utah's ABC affiliate, ran tonight. Here is the video.




I wish I hadn't been wearing my glasses with the auto-tinting leses, but it was still a great interview. Who new changing jobs so often would lead to being on the news?

Lastly, if you haven't dropped by my forum, www.readfarworld.com/forum please drop by. More tomorrow!

Avalanche of Words

Once up on a time there was an author who was getting ready for the publication of his first fantasy series. Deciding that he wanted to do everything within his power to make his series a success, he decided to do leave the city of Blog and go on a tour. The thing was, he couldn?t really find any solid information on what a blog tour involved. He?d always enjoyed reading other people?s blogs as well as writing his own, so he set out on a quest to discover the prefect blog tour.

Along the way, he learned that not all blogs are equal. Some blogs focus primarily on certain genres of books or certain age groups. Some have a very small audience of only a few readers while others have hundreds of thousands of unique visitors. Many bloggers weren?t sure he was really legit. Some didn?t respond to his e-mails. Some politely declined.

But over time, he met many new friends, found lots of great sites that he regularly visits, and signed up over one-hundred and fifty people to join his tour. Now that he had a great group of bloggers covering the US and Canada, and representing a wide range of readers, he thought about ways to make his tour stand out. A review is great, he thought. And one-hundred and fifty reviews will be even better. But how cool would it be if the readers could get to know me as well?. He knew that he liked learning more about the authors he enjoyed reading. What better way than to do interviews where bloggers could ask him questions?

This seemed like a good plan. And the bloggers appeared to agree. Soon he received his advance reader copies, ARCs, and sent them to the wonderful bloggers. At first there wasn?t much response, as people read his book. But after a week or so, he began to get e-mails. The messages were great. People didn?t hate his book! In fact most of them liked it quite a bit. Along with the reviews came interview questions. He excitedly answered each question, trying to think of answers that were both helpful and at least a little entertaining.

Soon he received more interviews, and more, and more, and more. One thing he had failed to take into consideration was how long it takes to answer 150 interviews. On average, each interview took from thirty to forty minutes to answer. Some were shorter. Some were longer. Questions ranged from what his favorite candy bar was to why there was no technology to speak of on Farworld.

The questions were great! They really gave him a lot to think about. And it was wonderful hearing how the book affected people. But even with an average response time of 30 minutes, doing 150 interviews took over seventy-five hours. At the same time, his publisher was asking for a completed manuscript of book two. And his other publisher was asking for edits on his regional mystery series.

The author tried to keep climbing the growing mountain of interviews while also writing 2-3,000 words per day. But soon he slipped and disappeared under an avalanche of words. Several miles away, the people of the Blog watched and waited. Would he ever be heard from again? Had he smothered under the weight of so many words? Had his brain been twisted by the question of which character was his favorite or how he came up with names?

Then a hand appeared at the top of the mountain of words, and the people gasped. A second hand appeared. And finally a head peeked over the surface of the pile. He WAS alive. He still had a gazillion books to send out. And he was answering questions from three days before. But there was hope that he would return to the land of Blog soon. And once there, he would post many links, tell many tales of his journey, and get all of the winner?s their books. Oh, and he would also get his second book turned in. It being easily twice as exciting as his first book.

Hey, gang. Sorry I disappeared for a while. I?m just about caught up. I?m currently answering Friday?s questions and hope to be through all of today?s questions by the end of the night. So if you haven?t missed my posts, bad luck for you, I?m back. But if you have missed them, thanks! I?ve missed you too. Also, please if you have sent me questions earlier than Friday and have not heard back, absolutely resend them.

Thanks! Scott

Fun w/ Keyword Searches

I came across this idea while browsing blogs recently and can?t for the life of me find it again. So if it was you, let me know and I?ll give you full credit. Otherwise, tough chicken nuggets!

As bloggers we often check to see how people are finding us. Sometimes the keywords make sense. Sometimes not so much. But hey if people need this information so much that they are searching for it, who am I to deny them? So with no further ado, here are some of my recent top search hits along with clarifying information.

#1 j. scott savage, j scott savage, j. scott. savage, j scott savage water keep, j scott savage blog

Yep. That?s me, my book, and my blog. The period after J is optional. Period after Scott is gratuitous. There has been a lot of confusion over what to call me. My wife has had quite a bit of success with, ?Hey you.? As in ?Hey you, get off the computer before your dinner gets cold.? And ?Hey, you better look at the garbage disposal. I think it just fell off the bottom of the sink.? It had. (Note for future plumbers, garbage disposals actually just twist on and off. So don?t twist unless you want it off.) I actually answer to either Jeff or Scott, but not J. I?ll do another blog soon explaining in mind-numbing detail how I came to be the two named wonder.

#2 The second highest search is not surprisingly, ?getting published with Shadow Mountain.?

If I could guarantee this, I would be able to make a living just off author fees. As I?ve said many times before, Shadow Mountain rocks. They are a great publisher. I can?t guarantee they?ll publish you. But I can provide a little additional information.

Shadow Mountain is the national imprint of Deseret Book. They are both based out of the same headquarters, but although DB is a primarily LDS (Mormon) publisher, SM is not. The books they publish are national content sold in bookstores across the US. Some of their most successful books have included the Fablehaven Series and several books by author Jason Wright, including The Wednesday Letters and The Christmas Jar. Both Wright and Mull have hit the NYT bestseller lists.

Shadow Mountain is open to both mainstream and YA novels. They do not require an agent, but they will work with agents. In the YA market, they will consider fantasy and non-fantasy works. One thing to be aware of when submitting to Shadow Mountain is that, although they do not want religious specific content, they are still looking at books with family content (no language, gore, sex, etc.) You can find more info at http://www.shadowmountain.com/

#3 Chris Schoebinger

Chris is the head honcho at Shadow Mountain. He is an incredibly savvy guy, and can take credit for much of the success at Shadow Mountain. Very sharp on all aspects of publishing and marketing. A little goofy, but hey aren?t we all? (Just kidding Chris, if you?re you know, reading this.) Chris does not take submissions directly but is very involved in acceptance down the road.

#4 Magic tour blogspot

Hmmm. Confusing. Are we taking about a blogspot for magic tours or a magic tour of blogspots? I?ll just assume it was someone checking on my Find Your Magic blogspot tour. At the end of my tour I?ll do a full recap with stats, numbers, and impressions.

#5 I look like John Depp

It?s true. I?m not gonna lie. I get confused for him a lot. When, you know, I wonder aimlessly around Tortugas with a bottle of Rum in my hand.

#6 How to do Savage magic tricks.

Talk a lot and try to say funny things to the audience so no one notices you are a lousy magician. There?s a reason I turned to writing.

#7 What monster is best for magic finding?

Trolls. Definitely trolls. Or ogres. Actually water elementals have incredible finding powers. But they don?t really count as monsters.

#8 Find your magic savage.

Look in the last place you left him.

#9 Are magic hooks any good?

No. But magic worms will keep you catching big mouth bass all day.

#10 Perfect publisher vanity

Well clearly it would have lots of room for books, a place for red pens, and a big mirror. Because editors have big egos. Unlike us humble writers.

#11 Lisa Mangum

Lisa actually held the number one spot for quite a while. But after the whole burger-gate incident, she?s really dropped in the polls. I?ve heard she?s looking for a new image consultant. Lisa is the real brains behind Shadow Mountain and she saved me from having to do something to my first chapter that I really didn?t want. All hail Queen Mangum.

We also have two new stops on the blog tour:

Kyle wrote a maniacal review at his blog Book Review Maniac

Jaime Theler nearly got me killed by falling off ancient ruins or getting swatted by an angry German. You can read her review here. And our fun Q&A here.

Confession Time

Okay, I have a confession to make. No this doesn?t have anything to do with the potato I stuck in James Dashner?s exhaust pipe. Really sorry about the muffler, man, but it probably needed to go anyway. And this isn?t about those anonymous Go Farworld! signs someone has been plastering all over neighborhood garages. (I think that might have been Brian.) And it definitely doesn't have anything to do with that picture of Margaret Thatcher, that I added just because I had no other odd pictures on hand.

No this actually has to do with the wonderful post Kerry Blair, a good friend and excellent author, posted about the ten books you should read before you die. Before I make my confession, let me just say that I am probably the wrong person to ask this question. When people interviewing me ask what one book I would take to a deserted island, my first response is, ?A book that would tell me how to get off the island, silly. Something like Deserted Islands for Dummies.? I?m also really bad at things like the live-each-day-like-it-was-your-last philosophy. I tend to agree with Lucy when she has this conversation with Sally in ?You?re a Good Man Charley Brown.?

[SALLY]
You know, someone said that we should live every day as if it were the last day of our life.

[LUCY (passing by and overhearing)]Aaugh! This is the last day!! This is it!! I only have twenty-four hours left!! Help me! Help me! This is the lastday!! Aaugh!

[SALLY]Clearly, some philosophies aren't for all people.And that's my new philosophy!

With that forewarning, I confess that if I knew I was going to die in x amount of time, and I could only read ten books before I die, those books would be far more likely to include a fantasy novel than say, Dante?s Inferno. I wouldn?t even give a thought to Shakespeare, but I would probably buy the newest Dean Koontz novel. At least one of the ten would be a graphic novel and there might even be some?shudder?horror. Does that make me shallow? I?m sure it must. But you know what? I just don?t care. Yes there are times I read for deep meaning. You know like when I?m stuck in the dentist?s office and it?s taking forever, and the only thing in the lobby is a pristine copy of Hemingway?s short stories.

But in general I read to be amused. I read to be uplifted. I read to be inspired. And, as good as Grapes of Wrath is (I?m not kidding here. I really do like Grapes of Wrath in a sick and twisted sort of way.) it doesn?t pass the time the way something like ?Life Expectancy? does. And it certainly isn?t uplifting. I know, I know, we?re talking ?Masters? here. Writers with standing and gravitas draining out their long dead ear holes. But I don?t read to be impressed and I definitely don?t read to impress. I actually did buy a book of Somerset Maugham stories to read on my last trip. And I tried. I really tried to get into them. But I kept looking at what my kids were reading with great envy. Finally when they fell asleep, I ditched SM and started reading Star Wars.

The other day, a wonderful young woman, and teacher to be, listed her top ten books. An anonymous poster rediculed the list--presumably because it contained too much genre fiction. But as soon as I read that list, I thought, ?This is the woman I want teaching my kids.? See here?s the thing. She listed books like ?The Uglies? and ?Harry Potter? and ?Oh the Places You?ll Go.? In other words books that my kids would ?get.? Books that would lift them to new heights, give them dreams, introduce them to new worlds. Books they could get into right away and enjoy. If my kids have a teacher who knows how good ?The Uglies? is, I have no worries about my kids learning to read.

Now I?m not saying there isn?t a place for more weighty volumes. I mean shouldn?t college students have to suffer at least a little to get to wear the goofy caps and gowns and put letters after their name other than WAS HERE? There?s nothing like a college level literature appreciation class to make you appreciate that you don?t have to read literature all the time. And maybe it will even teach you something other than the fact that Tolstoy seriously needed some St John?s Wart.

What I am saying is that all too often we feel that reading should be work. We should preferably be reading the scriptures, and if not those, than non-fiction. But if you have to read fiction, make sure that is historically accurate, or better yet, so old it actually is history. Next time you see someone over thirty with a fantasy or Sci-Fi novel in their hand?or heaven forbid, a romance?ask them what they are reading. Watch how they blush, and kind of wave away the book as if they?d just found it abandoned on a bus station bench, and are on their way to the trash with it.

But then say, ?Oh, I love that book.? And watch how quickly they open up. A fellow degenerate. Next thing you know, you?ll be discussing the difference between Stephen Donaldson and Tolkien. You?ll be comparing Card to Heinlein. You won?t need to pretend that you prefer to go to bed with a copy of 16th Century Politics and It?s Effect on Modern American Economic Psychology. You can even admit that you?ve read all the Harry Potter books, and the Redwall books?twice.

Yeah, I know I?ll never earn the accolades of the New Yorker, and my mansion in heaven will probably be a little on the small side. But it will be lined with bookshelves from top to bottom, and they will ALL be books I like. I may let my grandkids come over and read them occasionally. Heck, I?ll bet would even like Hemmingway would like to read Dean Koontz, now that he?s sober.
I'm also excited to post several new stops on my tour. It's not every day you get to discuss things like having an extra eyeball in your pocket. Enjoy!

Sarah posted a great review on her blog Toddler Drama. Sarah is a talented writer, photographer, and graphic artist. As well as being the sister of some schlep of a writer names Dashner.

Next I got to go to Disneyworld with one of my most long-time fans, Brian at Bookworm. We had a fun interview and got to watch the fireworks from the Big Thunder Railroad. My stomach is feeling much better now.

You can read a fun review of Farworld by the wonderful Reader Rabbit the 2nd here.

Or you can drop by Mrs. Magoo as seen on TV, for her review at Mrs. Magoo Reads.

Qu Grainne and I had a chance to swap stories at the Alterra ? Humboldt Caf�. You can read about it all here.

Gamila of Gamila?s Review and I chatted as we floated along the Avon River. You can read of Q&A here. And her interview here.

Trish and I had a had a ball at Hey Lady Whatcha Readin?? Check out her interview and review, and wish her congratulations on her recent nuptials.

Queen of Chaos and her 11 year-old son read my book togther. You can read her review and interview here.

And last, but certainly not least, (as she would tell you herself) the charming, talented, lovely, and writeaholic, Tristi Pinkston wrote a stellar review and interview on families.com here and here. (Did I get in all the superlatives you asked for Tristi? J )

Thanks all. This has been a riot.

Best Villians and More Tour

So apparently Moviefone has come up with their list of the top ten movie villains of all time. Cool. In my mind, the first character that popped into my head was Norman Bates. Especially considering when Psycho came out, he was the creepiest of the creepy. I think what sold me on him was that he killed pretty much whoever dropped by. Nothing personal, just doing my job. Slash, slash, slash. But then, the whole mother twist at the end. I had lots of bad dreams about him. So I was sure he would be one of the top ten, if not number one.

But then I see the list, and he doesn?t even make it. What? How can that be? That?s like leaving The Babe out of the MLB hall of fame. It?s like forgetting Queen in the list of the best rock bands. It?s like not including Harry Potter in the best fantasy books. Ahh, but there?s our problem. Harry Potter trumps all. So the top movie villain, hold your breath if you haven?t already heard, is . . .



Voldemort? What? Really? Voldemort is the BEST movie villain of all time? Are you kidding me? Okay, the dude was a pretty good villain in books. And he was okay in the movies. But are you telling me he was scarier than Nazgul in LOTR? Are you telling me he was meaner than Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty? This woman put a family's daughter to sleep for 100 years. Talk about rude!

I don?t buy it, but here?s their list.

1. Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter - Ralph Fiennes

I?ve said enough about this. Bad choice. Not even the best villain in the last ten years.

2. Darth Vader, Star Wars -James Earl Jones, Hayden Christensen

Who?s going to argue with this? Dude was a GREAT villain.

3. Wicked Witch Of The West, The Wizard Of Oz - Margaret Hamilton

Don?t know that I?d put her near this high. But yeah, she and her flying monkeys gave me some pretty bad nightmares.

4. Hannibal Lecter, Silence Of The Lambs - Anthony Hopkins

Oh yeah. Waaayyyy creepy. He is in my top ten. Although the guy who was taking the girls and sewing their skin was also pretty nasty.

5. Joker, The Dark Knight - Heath Ledger

Okay, I have a big problem here. He can make the list next year. But this list was made before the movie even came out. You can?t put a guy in the HOF before he even comes up to bat. Even if he is great. The entertainment world is going to miss him, but no sentimental vote here.

6. Goldfinger, Goldfinger - Gert Frobe

Huh? Nope. Lots of better villains, even in the Bond movies alone. I personally thought the Jaws character was pretty good.

7. Chigurgh, No Country For Old Men - Javier Bardem

No comment. Haven?t seen it.

8. Hans Gruber, Die Hard - Alan Rickman

Another swing and a miss. No idea why he made the list.

9. Max Cady, Cape Fear ? Robert De Niro

Okay. He was scary.

10. The Queen, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs- Lucille La Verne

Base hit. But I think a homer would have been Maleficent. I mean, dude, she could turn into a dragon!

So who were your favorite movie villains? And just for fun, who are you favorite book villains. I?d have to put the clown from IT pretty high on my list. Bonus question, what makes a good villian for you?

In blog tour news, I?ve been having a ball globe trotting and doing virtual interviews. Here are some more of the tour stops.

Jessica at The Blue Stocking Society joined me in Park City

Kimberly of Temporary? Insanity fattened me up on fondue.

Anna Hedges joined me for a fun Q&A on her blog ThE bLoG oF A. e. heDgES

Karlene of Ink Splasher and I ate fruit and listened to the dawn chimes sing.

?Weston? Elliott and I hung out in Farworld. You can read her Q&A and review at Wendword

Heather Justesen did a review on her blog, and will be doing a Q&A shortly

G Parker and I got to hang out at her sister?s cabin at Fish Lake. You can read about it at Musings From an LDS Writing Mom

And Mikaela did a review at her blog

Thanks so much to everyone who is taking part. If you have posted a review or interview and I missed you, please let me know. If you have sent me questions that I haven?t answered. I?m hurrying. I promise!

Tour, Tour, Tour

Hope everybody had a great weekend. I had a chance to hang with most of the relatives on my side of the family, cooking burgers and shooting off fireworks. And I only came away with a few minor burns on the backs of my hands and one on top of my head. Okay, so maybe I stay a little too long trying to light just one more firework as the others are starting up. For those of you sending me questions, I?m catching up as fast as I can. But keep them coming because I?m having a ball answering them.

I just heard from my publisher that the blue lines are done and the books are actually in the process of being printed and bound. I?ve got a book show signing scheduled for early August and they are hoping I?ll have hard copies by then. Whoo hoo! Can?t wait. I?m even officially listed on Shadow Mountain?s web site. No reviews from the big boys yet, but all the feedback I?m getting is positive. The only real negative I?m hearing is that the pace of book one is so fast there is not as much time to get to know the characters and the Dark Circle as people would like.

I don?t plan to slow down the pace in book two, but I am going to provide a lot more meat to Kyja, Marcus, and the bad guys. In a way it is shaping up a little like HP 4, which was my favorite HP book. The plan is to get it to my editor by the end of August/Early September. Speaking of early September, we are finalizing the two week book tour and should have firm dates and locations soon.

Here are the newest reviews on the tour.

Jewel from Jewel?s World who I had the pleasure of writing a blurb for recently. If you haven?t read her blog, you should. She really is a jewel.

KT at What KT Reads wrote a great review and will be doing a Q&A soon.

Sandra, Ethan, and James at The Dance went rafting on the Provo River with me. Which was a ball, until James pushed me out of the raft. We?re going to have words.

Danyelle of Queen of the Clan and I got to hang in her newly remodeled kitchen. (check out the pics of it!)

Candace Salima and I hung out in her newly remodeled blog at Dream a Little Dream.

And Christine at She Reads Books gave me a review of more than her first six word review.

Wait, just added one more!! How could I have forgotten my trek into the Australian Outback with the lovely and talented, T. For her blog You Asked For It? It was a lot of fun.

Thanks everybody! You all are awesome!!!!

Happy Independance Day! & More Stops on the Tour

I?ve read many wonderful blogs today, recognizing the freedoms we have and the people who have sacrificed so much to protect that freedom. I know there is a lot of division in our country, maybe more so than at any time since the civil war. But as long as we can all unite on days like today in support of the many good things we have and the right of people to say what they think and stand up for what they believe, I think we?ll be okay.

I know that for me personally, I couldn?t be more proud to recognize over two hundred years of freedom. I?m proud of the many cultures, races, religions, and beliefs that can all survive and thrive in a single country. I?m proud that I can go to schools around the country and tell children that they can become anything they set their minds to and know it is absolutely true.

With all of our flaws, warts, and freckles, I?m proud to call the US home. Even if we don?t have Wonder Bars and Ketchup Chips. That was for you, Canada. Sorry I missed your Canada Day celebration. I was thinking about you. For the rest of you outside the US, let me know anytime you?re in the Utah area and I?ll take you all out for a burger and fries (with that unique Utah conglomeration known as fry sauce.) Those of you outside the US and Canada, what is your equivalent of Independence Day?

Here are two more blogs that I had a chance to visit.

Teacher Tasses did a great review over at Let the Wild Rumpus Start. She?ll be doing a cool interview and contest later. She?s also going to create a literature teaching guide for grades 3-6. Can?t wait to see it.

I also visited with the lovely and talented author, Shirley Bahlmann. We did our Q&A at the bottom of the lake in Water Keep no less. Let me just say in fair warning that Shirley is at least as weird as me. And I mean that in the nicest way. Check her blog Shirley Bahlmann Bizz, then check out her books. She is a great writer!!

And We're Off!

The FARWORLD BLOG TOUR is officially under way. (Like how I put it all in caps? Makes it look more official. Can?t you just hear the bugles and drums?) But before I take you on a whirlwind tour involving much eating, drinking, reading, and generally being merry, I thought I?d answer a question quite a few people have been asking me.

Basically the question comes down to how do you feel about getting feedback from readers/editors/reviewers?

I think that learning how to request and handle feedback both positive and negative is one of the hardest things for new writers to master. They tend to overreact to both the positive and the negative. Combine that with the fact that often they don?t even know what they want when they ask for feedback and you can see where it?s easy for them to get their feelings hurt.

The first thing a writer has to understand is the level and type of feedback they are getting. I think I?ve pointed this out before, but I am not an expert on art. Not even close. But I have a co-worker who is. He graduated from a prestigious art school. He is an amazing painter. If he and I were to look at the same painting, we would each be entitled to our opinions. But, and this is key, my opinion would the opinion of an art patron. His opinion would be that of an artist. Neither is more valuable in and of itself, but they are definitely different. Let me explain.

Ultimately the person who matters most is the reader. That is who my responsibility is to. If most readers don?t ?get? my story, I have failed, not the readers. Much as I want and would be thrilled by nominations, awards, and positive reviews from prestigious publications like Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, ALA, etc, what matters most to me is what the readers think. So I am every bit as thrilled by a 13 year-old girl who loves my book as I am by a big publication.

I also realize though, that not all readers are going to like my book. Some will be the wrong audience. But some will just have different tastes. Just for fun, I looked up the first books in several best selling series. Harry Potter got 68 one star reviews. Twilight 87. Artemis Fowl 58. In fact the more successful you are, the more likely you are to get a significant number of negative reviews, just by sheer numbers. The key is to focus on what people liked and what they didn?t like, determine what if anything you?d like to change in the next book, and move on. You can?t please everyone.

When it comes to constructive criticism, I place a lot more credit with professionals in the publishing industry: editors, other authors, and book reviewers. Because they read many books and understand the process of creating a good story, I want their brutal opinion. I don?t want them to hold back. I will usually let them know whether I am looking for a content edit, a writing edit, or a line edit. It?s not that their opinion is any more important than an average reader, but they can not only tell me what they liked and disliked, they can suggest why something did or didn?t work.

My suggestion for beginning writers? Don?t ask for brutal critiques at first. That?s hard on even the most successful writer?s ego, and you haven?t built up enough thick skin yet. Instead, ask people to tell you what they liked. Ask them what characters they felt were the most real. Ask them where they felt the most attached to the story. Once you?ve received enough positive feedback to convince you your story is not a piece of garbage, ask them what parts they thought were slow or which characters they didn?t relate to as well.

When you?ve received feedback from enough people you will be able to decide for yourself what areas need work, and where you have got it down right.

I know this sounds like I am setting you up for a bunch of bad reviews on the tour. But that?s really not the case. In fact, I?ve been delighted by all the positive feedback and excited to hear what people wanted to see improved. So let?s jump in.

For my first stop, I jetted out to Washington state where Annaliese and I had a wonderful meal in the Space needle. You can read her review and our Q&A on her blog, Life of a Story Engineer.

Next on the tour is She Reads Books, where Christine did six word reviews of her June books

Over at The Lyon?s Tale, Annette Lyon gave away all my innermost secrets

Then I raced all the way up to Canada for a gondola ride. (But don?t be thinking boats and long poles) with Melanie Nielson at The Nielson Family

Finally I enjoyed a . . . hearty? . . . meal with Murph of From the Mind of Murph at Darrow?s Bar & Grill, Home of the 10 Pound Haggis. Ummmm.

I?ve also had several fun reviews over at Goodreads.

Thanks everyone for the excellent reviews and fun content. There are lots more on the way, and nearly all of these blogs are doing contests.

PS Also wanted to wish a hearty congrats to my good friend James Dashner who just sold a book I happen to love called Maze Runner. You can read the details of his deal over at his blog, The Dashner Dude.

Buried

I apologize for not posting this past week. I have been absolutely buried by end of quarter at work, a time-crunch on another writing project, and finishing Q&A's for the tour. (Unfortunately I have that stack of work on the left, but not the assitant to help me out.) If I haven't answered your questions yet, I promise I will shortly.

In the mean time, here are three more reviews (I'll create a sidebar for all of them this week!) and another picture from the book. Hope to come up for air very soon!

Freshman for President

Ally is also giving away a copy of her newest Shadow Mountain YA novel, called . . . "Freshman for President." The contest ends on the 3rd of July. My family recently finished this book and loved it! My ten year old son, immediately snatched it up for a second reading. So hurry over there before her contest ends.

Two more fun reviews from these great sites you should check out!

The Book Vault & SciFiChick.com

A Sneak Peek

This week I don't expect to get a ton of blogging done, as I'm doing some pretty heavy editing for another book and also answering questions for the blog tour.

I know the blog tour doesn't officially begin until next month (which also happens to be next week for those of you without calendars at the ready.) But I had a couple of bloggers ask me if they could post a little early. And being the nice guy that I am, I said, "Why not?" Of course it had nothing to do with being anxious to see what they thought of the book.

So, if you'd like to jump into the tour a little early for a sneak peek at what's coming, you can drop by Anne Bradshaw's, Not Entirely British for her review and contest.

And you can drop by Raych's, books i done read, for a wild game of battleship, words of advice on what to tell your kids when they ask which of your books they can read, some unusual questions and answers, and a contest as well.

Thanks to both of you for taking part in the tour!

Oh, and here's another sneak peek at a picture from Water Keep. If you look really close, you can just make out faces on the trees. Can I say again, what a stud Brandon Dorman is?

Questions, Websites, and Bartimaeus

Just wanted to say how much I am enjoying all of your questions. Quite a few of them have made me laugh out loud. And I?m learning new things?like the menu at the Space Needle and the ins and outs of Battleship. Also, I?d never really considered whether or not my pets had any odd quirks. Does my fish doing the backstroke count?

Also, can I just say for the thousandth time that Shadow Mountain is the coolest publisher ever? I met with Chris, Patrick (the web specialist), and their consultant, whose name I can?t remember right at the moment, but who was absolutely incredible, to go over the plans for the Farworld website.

In my years of marketing, I?ve found that there are three kinds of marketing people you meet. Those who can?t even do what you ask them, those who can do what you ask, and those that go beyond what you?ve imagined. Shadow Mountain definitely falls into the third category. In talking with Patrick, I let him know some of the things I?d like to do with the site. I really wanted to have it integrate up to date info from me along with community involvement.

I?d like to have a special section for teachers where they can order bookmarks and posters, download classroom aids, and schedule visits. I?d like to have forums and this blog integrated in. I?d like fun extras and info about Farworld and upcoming books. I'd like to have a place where people can upload their Farworld artwork. Essentially, lots of reasons to check in often. And I?d like to be able to update it without requiring a programmer for every change.

Not only were they on top of all my requests. By they went so much further. Imagine a screen where you see a beautiful green valley and as the sun rises, tiny purple flowers rise from the ground. (Sound familiar?) Imagine the Farworld map made interactive. Imagine a site that you actually leap into. Every time I suggested something, they would flip to another screen and say, ?Like this??

Let me just say it is going to be sooooooo cool. Thanks everyone at SM!

Finally, at the suggestions of several of you during our best fantasy series contest, I just read ?Amulet of Samarkland,? the first book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy. Wow! It was so much better than I expected. Great story. Great world. Great sense of humor. I can?t wait to read the next book. Honestly the only two complaints I has?and they aren?t really complaints as much as comments?were that the footnotes got old after about the first ten, and this is a book with a twelve-year-old protagonist, but it clearly is not a middle grade book. As an adult I loved it. I think readers twelve and up will probably love it. But it?s pretty tough vocabulary for readers under twelve.

I highly recommend it.

First Stop on the Blog Tour

Okay, so I know the tour doesn't officially kick off until July. And those of you who haven't read Water Keep yet may not want to read the other reviews until you do yours. But if you have and you do, I recently jetted to Hawaii for roast pork and mango smoothies. While there, Fyrefly and I surfed, ate, and talked about Farworld. She is also doing a fun book giveaway for a good cause. So feel free to drop by to Fyrefly's Book Blog and say hi.

PS Hoping I have something very cool to show you tomorrow.

Hi from D-Land!

Hey everybody! I know I've been a little quiet lately. That's because we are all out in SoCal, soaking up the sun and spending a little one-on-one time with Mickey Mouse. (Okay, I admit it's a little more like 20,000-on-one time. But we're having a ball.)

It looks like most of you have received your ARCs by now. A couple of you joined at the last minute and I didn't get you into the first mailing. Those will go out early next week. If you joined the tour any time before last week and haven't received your ARC yet, please e-mail me so I can check on it.

A few of you also had questions about the blog tour which I will try and answer.

1) Can we post a review before the tour on Goodreads or Librarything? Yes. Feel free to post a review on other sites. Any publicity helps.

2) Do we need to wait until our review to run the contest? No. You can start your contest anytime. In fact, Anne at Not Entirely British, is running her contest now.

3) How do we get our second (contest) ARC? If you want to send it out personally, I will have it mailed to you. Otherwise, just send me the name and address of the person it goes to. I will take them all over to Shadow Mountain for mailing about once a week.

4) When should we send you our questions if we are doing a Q&A? Anytime after you've read the book? I've already done a couple of fun ones.

Also, I wanted to give a shout out to Ally Condie, author of ?Freshman for President.? We are reading it as a family right now and having a ball with the story of 15-year-old Milo Wright running for president of . . . the United States. Very, very funny and good. I?ll let you know when we finish it.

Thanks again and I'm looking forward to getting back into the blogging groove and hearing more about how you liked Farworld next week. Until then, "Ears to you!" Raising a Buzz Lightyear cup of soda.

They're Heeeerrree (Said in a Poltergeist Movie Voice)

Okay, the ARC chant did it. The ARCs are here at last! I only got five this morning. But in the next couple of days I should get all the books I need for the blog tour. It's such a cool feeling holding a book in my hand that not so long ago was just an idea in my head. It finally seems real. Of course they aren't the final hardback copies, and I have published other books before. But this is an initial print run of 40,000 hard back copies. It's placement on bookshleves nationwide.

Honestly, until I had the book in my hands, there was still a tiny voice in the back of my head whispering, "It's not real. Something will happen to make it all fall through."

But hey, now it's real! Would you blame me if I sleep with one under my pillow until the final copies show up in about three months?

Funny side note: I told my boys (pictured above) that next week we were going to have an ARC mailing party.

Boys "What's that?"

Me "It means we are going to stuff, label, and insert letters in over 150 envelopes to mail out books to my blogger friends."

Boys (Think for a minute.) "Will there be food?"

Me "Probably."

Boys "Will there be other kids?"

Me "Nope. Just us."

Boys "That doesn't sound like much of a party."

Oh, well. At least I'll be having fun. Which is good, because as much as it pains me to say it, Indy 4 was something of a let down. I'm sure if I hadn't gone in with such high expectations it wouldn't have been as bad. I went in looking for another 10, and what I got was maybe a 6 1/2. The sad thing is, most of the movie was a 12. Classic Indiana Jones thriller. But a few scenes, and the ending in particular, just had us all shaking our heads and asking, "Why?"

That being said, we all applauded at the end. (Well most of us.) And I will go back and see it again. And I will buy the DVD. It is a good addition to the trilogy, but in my opinion it is not as good as any of the first four. Honestly, if I go back with the right expectations, I could probably bump it up to a 7 or even 7 1/2. But I really, really, wanted it to be a 12.

One other funny thing. We left at 10, although it turned out we could have gone at 11:30 and gotten decent seats. The two theaters weren?t even sold out. But that says more about Payson, Utah than the movie. Anyway, without even discussing it, we all brought books to read while we waited. So here are all these rowdy teenagers in line, and sitting on the floor is my me, my wife, and our four kids all reading away. Made me proud

Back on the ARC side, I will be sending out e-mails over the next couple of days with final blog tour details to everyone who has signed up. Last time I sent out an e-mail to everyone on the tour, I only heard back from about 2/3rds. So if you don't hear from me by Monday, check your SPAM filters or send me a message. Can't wait to get these out and start hearing back from you!

Marketing Part IV?The Blog Tour

As promised, I am officially kicking off the Find Your Magic, Farworld Blog tour. Since I haven?t done this before, I am going to kind of make it up as I go. It?s pretty simple, so that shouldn?t be too hard. But if any of you more experienced bloggers think of a better way to do it, or catch something I missed, let me know. Here?s the deal:

My publisher, Shadow Mountain, is providing me with 400 advanced reader copies of the first book in the Farworld series, Farworld?Water. The books will be used for a blog tour running from July 1 to August 31. (The book should hit the shelves the first week of September. It appears the official release date is September 5th.) I will send the first 200 bloggers who sign up to take part in the tour an ARC, and will also drop ship a second copy for them as part of any type of contest they would like to run.

What: Farworld Blog Tour
When: The tour will run through the months of July and August. Signup will begin Friday, April 11th. (But you can get in early. See below.)

Here?s what you do:

1) Send an e-mail to me at scott at jscottsavage dot com any time after 7:00 am MST Friday, April 11th telling me the name and URL of your blog, the mailing address where you?d like the book sent, and any preference you have as to when you want to post your review. I?d kind of like to spread out the reviews over the two months prior to the release, but I don?t want to tie anyone to a specific date. Let?s just make it easy and say first half of July, second half of July, first half of August, or second half of August.

2) Agree to run a review of the book and do a Q&A with me on your blog during the tour. You don?t need to send me your questions now, since you may come up with different questions once you?ve read the book. (I?d imagine something like, ?If you can get this trash published, doesn?t that give hope for everyone??) Okay, I hope that?s not really the first question that comes to mind, but it would be great if sites asked questions that are most tailored to their audience so they aren?t all the same.

3) When the time comes to do the review and the Q&A, run any type of contest you?d like. When you have a winner, send me their address and I?ll send them their book. On both the book I send you and the one I send the winners, let me know if you?d like them signed and personalized in any way.

Here?s what I do:

1) I will provide Shadow Mountain with the list of blogger addresses. As soon as the ARCs come out they will be mailed to you.

2) I will post here on the site when the tour is full, and when the ARCs are sent out. If you don?t get your book within a week or so of the mailing, let me know and I?ll check on your copy.

3) As soon as I get your questions, I?ll send back my answers.

4) If we get too many people signing up for one part of the tour, I?ll ask for volunteers to change to another part of the tour.

Random Notes:

G sharp, E flat, D.

Sorry.

The only real rules I can think of are that you must be using a blog that is fairly active. No fair using sites that haven?t been updated since 1999, cool as that year was. If you have two blogs that have different audiences, I think I?d be okay with you posting and running contests on both of them, but I?d only send you one review copy. Also, if you are part of a blog that you share with other people, it will be first come first serve. Only one review and contest copy per blog.

Oh, this might be kind of a pain, but since the initial release will only be in the US, I?m going to limit the tour to US and Canadian addresses only. I promise to do another tour in other countries when foreign rights are sold.

If you don't have a blog, not to worry. I'll link to all the blogs on the tour, so you'll have 200 chancea to win one. And I might be able to snag a couple of extra copies to give away here too.

Finally, thanks everyone. I really appreciate all of you who have given me such great feedback and support. It?s great to have good people helping you, and I hope I can return the favor. But in all seriousness, review the book honestly. I?d much rather have someone say they didn?t like this or that so I can try to improve with the next book in the series. But, hey, if you really do think I?m the next JK Rowling, say what you have to.

Marketing Part III?Finding the Magic

When I was in eighth grade, my family moved from Pleasant Hill, CA to New Providence, New Jersey. I soon met another boy my age who lived just down the street. He was seriously into rock and roll, and introduced me to a lot of the groups I came to love. He also taught me the basics of playing the bass guitar. One day I asked him what kinds of books he liked to read.

I have to stop here for a minute to point out how important books have been in my life. Some kids played sports, some played musical instruments. Some kids spent all their time watching TV, or in generations after mine, playing computer or video games. Some kids spent all their time at the movie theater. I spent not all my time, but a great deal of it, with books. I actually used to cut school to go to the library. (Not suggesting that at all Brian and Anna!) The point is, I grew up surrounding myself with all the books I could get my hands on. That?s why I was beyond shocked when my friend told me he didn?t read books. Not that he couldn?t read them?he was fully capable of reading?he just didn?t like to.

That very day, I gave him a copy of S.E. Hinton?s classic novel of rival gangs, ?The Outsiders.? I remember coming to his house a few days later. The first words out of his mouth were, ?I had no idea anyone wrote books like this.? Within the month, he?d read every Hinton book published at the time and was looking for other books to read as well. I don?t know if reading those books changed his life or not. We moved a few years later. But I do know the statistics about kids who read vs. kids who don?t, and let me tell you they are astounding. Do a little research on the effects of literacy and you?ll be amazed.

Here I am, thirty plus years later, with the incredible opportunity of making a full time living writing the very kinds of books I loved to read as a kid (and still do for that matter.) It seems to me, I have not only the opportunity to share the?I was going to say importance, but that?s the wrong word. To share the love of reading with kids who think the only thing that can hold their attention comes on a screen or a monitor.

Fortunately, my publisher feels the same way. When my book comes out, they will send me on a two week tour of schools all across the country. In addition, they will send me to even more schools throughout the course of the year. Every one of their YA fantasy authors has the opportunity to do this. In addition, each of the authors brings a unique message all their own. James Dashner calls his tour the ?Change the World Tour.? Brandon Mull?s tour focuses on using your imagination. I?m planning on calling my tour the?and this shouldn?t surprise anyone here??Find Your Magic Tour.?

My publisher will probably shoot me for this, but I?m going to post a small section of my book. Since I haven?t received my final edits yet, this could change. But I?ll take my chances. I want you to understand a little of why I call this blog, the Find Your Magic blog and why my tour will focus on the same thing. Here?s a little snippet from Farworld?Water.

Master Therapass glanced suspiciously up at Riph Raph, and the skyte quickly averted its big yellow eyes. ?Come, little one, and sit.? The wizard pointed a finger at Kyja?s chair and she reluctantly took a seat.

The old man stroked his long gray beard, his face crinkled in thought. ?Kyja,? he said softly. ?A horse may wish to fly. And it may briefly be able to launch itself into the air. But shortly it must return to land again. A duck may wish to carry a melody like a song bird. A goat may wish to swim beneath the waters. But ultimately, every animal, plant, even the rock in the field, must accept what it is, and in doing so, fulfill the measure of its creation.?

Kyja could feel her lips trembling as her eyes began to fill with tears. ?You?re saying I should quit trying? Just give up??

?Is casting spells really so important?? he asked, his deep brown eyes mirroring the pain in her glistening green ones.

?Yes!? Kyja cried leaping from her chair. ?Everyone has some magic. Cooks, farmers, blacksmiths. Babies turn their rattles into sweets. Mothers command scrub brushes to wash their children. Even plants and animals have magic.?

?Everyone but you.?

?Exactly!? Kyja began pacing about the room. ?I?m an outcast. It?s not bad enough I can?t do magic. But I can?t even take part in the magic the other kids do. Charms don?t work on me, spells bounce off, potions might as well be water for all the good they do me. I can?t play in any of their games.?

Master Therapass traced his boney fingers across the surface of the table. ?Don?t you see, little one? The very fact that magic does not affect you makes you special.?

?Not special?strange.? Kyja said, unable to stop the tears from dripping down her cheeks. ?Do you have any idea how I feel when the other kids make fun because I can?t do spells? They laugh behind my back and call me halfwit. They say I have to live in a barn because I?m as dumb as a cow. I don?t want to be different. I want to fit in.?

She waved her hand up at Riph Raph. ?Even he has . . .? Sudden understanding dawned on her as she stared up at the little skyte. ?It was you, wasn?t it? You were the one who made my hairclip move.?

Riph Raph tucked his head under his wing in shame. ?I?m sorry,? he said, his voice muffled. ?I just wanted to help. I was watching you try so hard. And I was concentrating with you. And suddenly . . .?

?Ohhhh,? Kyja cried. She dropped into her chair, burying her face in her arms. ?I?ll never be able to do magic. Never!?

?There, there.? The old wizard hobbled around the table and laid his hand gently upon the back of Kyja?s head. When her sobs changed to sniffles, he took her chin in his knobby fingers and raised it so she was looking into his eyes.

?Listen to me,? he said, his face dark and serious. ?You are right. Everything does have magic in it. From the smallest insect to the mighty trees of Before Time.?

Kyja looked up at him miserably. ?But not me.?

Master Therapass smiled. ?Even you, little one. But magic is not just spells. The magic you see on the outside?making pots and pans fly or brewing potions to make boys swoon before you?is but a tiny fraction of the power of true magic. The real power of magic lies within you. Who you are, what you do, and most importantly of all, what you may become.?

Kyja wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ?You really think I might have some magic inside me then??

The wizard nodded. ?I know it.?

There you have it. The first public posting of any content from Book 1. If you see Lisa or Chris, we?ll just keep this quiet. But hopefully this will give you a small taste of a theme that seems to keep coming back in the book, and I?m sure in the series, although I didn?t intend that when I started writing. Every one of us has magic inside. I know that sounds corny, but I believe it wholeheartedly.

I can?t sing if my life depends on it, but when I listen to someone with a beautiful voice sing, it feels like I?m witnessing magic. When you see a painting that seems so incredible you can?t believe anyone made it with their own hands, tell me a part of you deep inside doesn?t believe some kind of magic had to be involved. Those are big examples, but little acts of magic happen around us all the time. One little kid cheering another kid up. A girl discovering she can play the flute. A boy discovering he stinks at kickball but is good in drama.

That?s the message I want to take to kids all across the US, and hopefully across the world. Every one of you has magic inside. All you have to do is start looking for it and eventually you?ll find it.

Of course this is still marketing. I?ll be selling books along the way. That?s what pays for the tour. But in way, that?s a kind of magic too. Because people buying books provide enough money that I can go to even more schools and spread the message to more kids. All of you have magic inside you and what better way to discover what it might be than reading books about different people in far away places.

I?m sure there must be a better job than writing books and telling kids how great they are, but if there is, I can?t imagine what it would be.

An Update on the BLOG Tour and Treating NESS

Before I do my actual post about multiple storylines, let me pass on some great news. The ARCs are on track for early May. I haven?t seen the sketches for the cover art yet, but from what I?ve heard, it sounds like the cover is going to be great. I am supposed to get final edits back about the third week of this month. Okay, stop yawning. I?m getting to the good stuff. What this means to you is that the Farworld Blog Tour is officially a go.

Sometime early next week I will post the juicy details, but the 2000 foot overview is that on Monday April 14th I will take the first 200 people who sign up for the tour. You agree to post a review of Farworld book one along with ten or so questions and answers appropriate to your blog. Shadow Mountain agrees to send you an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) for you to review and to ship a copy anywhere in the US as part of a contest which you tie to the tour. Just as an FYI, if you haven?t ever seen an ARC, it looks very much like the hardback?same cover art, same size, same formatting inside?but often it doesn?t have the inside illustrations, and it could have a few typos since it is created from the gallies of the book before they get the final, final, edit.

Here?s one new twist I decided to add. It looks like we are going to get a really good response as I?ve already heard from over a hundred bloggers wanting to take part. But you can guarantee that you are part of the tour and help build publicity for the event by posting a link on your blog about the tour when I post the actual details (on or about the 7th of April.) Everyone who blogs about the tour and encourages other bloggers to sign up will be guaranteed a pair of ARCs. How can you complain about that huh?

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program. Have you ever read a book and come away from it thinking, ?You know that was a cool plot, but I really didn?t feel any connection to the characters?? Or have you ever read a book where the big twist of the story took so long to get to that you either found yourself turning to the back of the book to see what the solution was, or abandoning the book altogether? If so, the book might have been suffering NESS. Not Enough Storylines Syndrome.

NESS is pretty much what it sounds like. A severe weakening of your plot and or characters because of a deficiency of storylines, causing the reader to become disinterested and or frustrated. Additional side effects may include nausea (that book made me puke), bleeding (I swear I was about to jab my eyes out with a bookmark if something didn?t happen), trembling (I was shaking with rage because I couldn?t stand how the author dragged out the story), or worst of all drowsiness (it put me to sleep.)

The reason it is important to have multiple storylines is much like the reason a good meal must have multiple dishes. Steak is great. But ask anyone who?s been on an Atkins diet. Without anything else, meat gets old fast. But it?s not just about variety. Storylines allow you to reveal enough information that the reader can live with the fact that you are hiding the ultimate answer. They allow you to keep the story moving forward without having every chapter build up to one big climax. They allow you to give the characters additional depth.

Let me give you an example. Let?s say our main storyline is about a girl discovering she is really the Queen. How do we begin the story? Well if it?s like most stories where ordinary people do extraordinary things, we probably have to begin with her living a simple farm life. That way we can enjoy the surprise along with her when she discovers her true identity.

Let?s take the first five chapters of our book and examine how exciting they are in relationship to that one storyline.

Chapter 1 Nothing happens
Chapter 2 Nothing happens
Chapter 3 A wondering wizard finds a mysterious letter
Chapter 4 The protagonist?s mother dies and tells the girl she is not who she think she is
Chapter 5 Nothing Happens

On a scale of 1 to 10. with 1 being no moment on the storyline and 10 being the most exciting point, we probably have something like 1,1,3,6,1.

Three chapters of absolute nothingness. Now you could fix that by creating a linear storyline something like this, 1,2,3,4,5. But even then, you start out with a boring beginning and how long can you keep raising the stakes without the reader revolting?

Instead, let?s add a secondary storyline. Since we want the reader to empathize with our protagonist, let?s have her supporting her sick mother and four younger brothers and sisters. And since we want to begin with a bang, lets start with a fight at work that ends up with her losing her job. In fact, to be mean, let?s have her lose her job in the first chapter, and get robbed by the mean boss in the second chapter. Then in chapter five we?ll have her offered a job by the wondering wizard. In this storyline, we now have an 8,10,1,1,5. True there are two ones, but those are chapters that already have a three and a six.

So now if we take the highest score?from either storyline?in each chapter, it looks like this, 8,10,3,6,5. Not bad. But chapter three still has me a little worried. All I?ve really got happening is the wizard finding the letter, and I really like to have all of my chapters be a six or higher. There?s nothing worse than a chapter that feels liked it was just stuck in to connect the chapter before it and the one after.

I think we really need another storyline. The one area we haven?t focused on is the antagonist. And as I discussed in a previous blog, the antagonist is one of the most important parts of your hook. The current queen would be the obvious choice. But remember that wondering wizard? The one who finds the letter and gives our poor protagonist a job? How evil would it be if we made him the bad guy? Of course he will have his own motives that we?ll fill in later. But let?s have him find the letter, realize what it means, and try to poison our heroine. We can?t kill her off in the third chapter of the book, but . . . mom?s death certainly looks a little more suspicious now doesn?t it? And how on edge will the reader be when the girl they now love takes a job with the man they hate?

Our third storyline would look like this, 1,1,8,7,10. Chapters 3,4, and 5 build up with the wizard finding the letter and trying to poison the girl, the mother accidentally ingesting the poison and dying, and the girl taking a job with the very person. Our overall storyline, with each of the three arcs looks like 8,10,8,7,10. Now that is a story!
One of the other benefits of having the three storylines going is that we can have smaller resolutions along the way to the major climax. It wouldn?t be much of a story if the heroine regained the title of queen halfway through the book. But we could have her come into enough money to support her family halfway through. And we could certainly have her discover the true nature of the wizard 3/4s of the way through. These little victories keep the reader satisfied on the way to the ultimate conclusion.

You can get too many storylines going on, making the reader lose focus. But if you stick with somewhere between three and five main storylines in a typical book of 70k+ words, you should be fine. Middle grade novels or early chapter books will probably not have as many storylines, while a series like the wheel of time could have dozens.

What?s your opinion?

In Search of Buzz

It looks like the scheduled on sale date for Farworld is September 5th. Basically, that?s about six months until the first book hits store shelves, give or take a week. Between now and then, my publisher will be busy with things like finishing up the artwork, doing final edits, collecting the blurbs, printing ARCs (advance reader copies), and creating posters and bookmarks.

Shadow Mountain has done a great job of building up a name for themselves in the YA fantasy market with Leven Thumps, Fablehaven, and now The 13th Reality. Leven Thumps has sold hundreds of thousands, Fablehaven hit the NY Times bestseller list for children?s books, and even though The 13th Reality has just been released, it is selling well, and Borders has decided to feature it for the month of April in their ?New Voices? section.

Onece Farworld comes out, Shadow Mountain will send me on a two week multi-city tour where I will visit lots of schools and do lots of book signings. In addition, Shadow Mountain will have ARCs of my book at BEA (Book Expo America, the largest book show in the US,) and several other shows. Clearly this is all a dream come true for me. Unless the Earth spins off its axis in the next six months, I should be selling a bunch of books in the fourth quarter of this year.

The question is, what do I do for the next six months? The book is written. Other than final edits of the galleys, I?m not changing the story at all. Of course as an author, you always think of things you?d like to do better. But based on getting a lot of feedback from a lot of readers, I think people will find this book exciting. I?ve spent a lot of time studying reviews of other YA fantasy novels, and the three biggest complaints I see are: ?Not enough depth to the characters.? ?Too slow.? And, ?More suited to younger kids.?

I think I?ve avoided all of those pitfalls. Marcus and Kyja are not cardboard characters. They deal externally and internally with real issues. I?ve had many, many adults tell me they liked the book at least as much as their kids. I?m not going for silly with this series. And if there isn?t enough action in this book, you may need to read it while swimming with killer sharks or something. So the writing will either sink or swim.

But I don?t want to just sit back and wait. I?ve been racking my brain trying to think what I can do to help build up momentum until then. I think the bottom line is that word of mouth is what will sell the book. If I?m right, and my book is good, people will tell other people. Hopefully I?ll get good reviews for some of the biggies like Kirkus and Publisher?s Weekly. But what can I do to get the ball rolling until then? How do you create word of mouth before your book is out?

The first thing I did was to start this blog. If I keep the content fresh and helpful, people should start telling other people and the number of visitors will steadily increase. That seems to be happening. For me, the concept of the internet is fascinating. As I look at the map of who is visiting my site, I see people from all over the world and most of the regions in the US. Is there a way I can use that to start building up what industry people call buzz?

Here?s what I?m thinking, and I want you to brainstorm right along with me. The best way to get the word out is to approach the people who talk to the most people. If I were already a big name or had unlimited time and money, I?d start traveling across the country right now. I don?t have money, but I do have ARCs that will be available in May. Shadow Mountain prints a ton of these. I?m not sure they want me to say exactly how many they send out, but it is quite a few. They will send out copies to all the big book reviewers both on-line and in print.

Again, if my book is as good as I think it is, that should generate some talk. But what about a grass roots effort? What about all the people who have blogs, but aren?t huge reviewers? I think I?ll probably have 100-200 books that I can give out. Let?s say I gave out 200 books to people who have their own blogs. If each of those blogs averaged say thirty unique visitors (some will have many more, some will have less) I could reach 6,000 people before my book even comes out.

Honestly, if you sold 6,000 books your first week, you?d probably hit the NYT. Of course I?m not na�ve enough to think all 6,000 people would rush out to buy my book. But it?s definitely better than just sitting back and waiting. So the next question is, how can I reach those people and what can we do to make the blog posts interesting enough to get some attention?

Here?s where I need your help. I?m still pretty new to this blogging stuff (at least on a national level), but I know many of you spend quite a bit of time with your own blogs and reading others. What if I did this?

Let?s say I offer a free ARC to anyone who agrees to read the book and do a review along with a Q&A on their blog between the first of July and the end of August? I think they call this a blog tour or a virtual tour. I send you the book and you send me questions, Whatever questions you want, writing questions, questions about the books, silly questions, serious questions, whatever. I?ll send you back my answers and you agree to post a review and the Q&A on your blog starting July first.

Obviously I expect you to say what you really think about the book. If you love it, great. If you don?t love it so much, then say what you didn?t like. In addition, what if I could get enough extra ARCs so you could give out one free copy to someone who comments on your post? Do a random drawing, best comment, whatever. I?d even have the book drop shipped for you to the person who won it.

It seems to me that if I did this, it would really help get the word out. I honestly don?t know if I?d get tons of bloggers interested or only a handful. What I?m thinking I would do is take a date like the middle of April and announce that I would send out books to the first two hundred people who sent me the name of their blog and their mailing address.

I?d definitely get some overlap on blogs, but maybe we could try to schedule dates so everyone didn?t blog at the same time. And by doing different questions and answers, it could make the blogs unique enough that readers might read more than one post.

Oh, and for those of you who don?t have blogs, I could do some kind of drawing here as well as the chance you?d have to win a book off someone else?s blog. In fact I could do a daily link of everyone who is taking part in the tour so people could go from my blog to their blogs to try and win a book there or just check out the other cool blogs.

So what do you think? Would this work? Why or why not? I?d love to hear your comments, and I?m going to put up a poll tied to the questions of how effective it might be. I?m really looking forward to hearing your thoughts.