It's Greek Week GIveaway! Double Date Review

Update: I am waaaaaaaaay behind on shipping book so hang with me. If you have not gotten it - i probably have not sent it. I have a stack going tomorrow and another next week when kids are in camp. Thanks for patience and understanding.

Have you watched Greek? Have you read the book?

I know what you're thinking.

Another book that's based on a TELEVISION SERIES or MOVIE?

Again?

I mean we've got Vampire Diaries, Clique...do we need more? Blah blah blah.

Well, Greek: Double Date, is worth the read. (not to mention the show is so worth watching especially if you want to relive your college years! Like me!)

Here's the summary:

Two dates—same night!

Major oops. When Casey Cartwright's brother begs her to be nerdy Dale Kettlewell's date to the sure-to-be-boring Honors Engineering Awards, Casey says yes. Even though Dale is totally not her type…and might have a crush on her. Ugh. But it's a nice thing to do, and Casey's always been the "nice" girl. But now, that night conflicts with the biggest event of the semester, the All-Greek formal. Casey already has a date lined up: hot transfer student Rob Howell.

What to do? What Casey does may surprise even herself….

Casey is a funny, snarky heroine and her boy problems can't help but make you relate. After all - havent we ALL gone out with multiple guys in one night (I guess i was the unlucky one then b/c I had a hard time getting one!)

Rusty, her brother, is just as quirky and after having a little brother of my own that was only a couple years younger - I felt right at home in watching them interact/fight/complain/help each other. Not to mention, the secondary characters are all quite silly and add to the story.

Especially the scenes with Ashleigh and Casey.

A few funny moments that stuck out to me:

• When Rebecca and Casey are hiding from a mouse for a long time in the kitchen. "Do you know how long we've been up here? I am this close to eating the box of salad croutons."
• When Casey is talking to Ashleigh about finding a date, Ashleigh suggests asking her brother for advice. Casey responds with: "Please! Me ask my brother to find me a date? Stars would have to collide in some universe-breaking fashion for that to happen." Ashleigh goes on to suggest hunting through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
• When Dale, Cappie and Rusty are talking about Casey. "She'd dump him in an instant if you would commit. So do us a favor - put up or shut up - and no - this is not my anti-allergins talking!"

The easy dialogue is equally quick-witted and the book has a lot of silly moments that have you giggling out loud. I saw on Harlequin Teen that even Martha's author bio is totally fudged, and ridiculous (lets hope its fake - if not - sorry Martha!! :) So i think that's why the humor works in this book! The author obviously injects her own humor/lies. ;)

Have you watched Greek on ABC? This is a great way to ease into the TV series that is now into it's third season. So, check out this book if you want some fun light reading or if you want to see what the Greek show is all about. Also, the second book, Greek: Best Frenemies is coming out in Oct.

This week, you can head over to Harlequin Teen on Facebook to join in some of the Greek activities. They also have a fun Greek site up too.

Come on, when will you ever get to do Greek Week again?

So tell me, what was your biggest Dating OOPs in college and win a copy of Double Date!

Marvelous Marketer: Dan Ehrenhaft (Friend is Not a Verb)

Today, we have Dan Ehrenhaft from Harper Collins. I had the pleasure of meeting Dan for lunch in New York for BEA and he is funny and brilliant. One of those people that you walk away from and say "wow he is so smart!" I adore him and think he's a great writer. I've also heard he is also a wonderful editor. Who could ask for more? :)

Hi Dan, first tell us about you as an author.

Besides being an editor, I am the author of way too many books for children and young adults including Dirty Laundry and The After Life. I’ve written under the pseudonym Daniel Parker and occasionally Erin Haft. My newest book, Friend is Not a Verb, has just been released by Harper Teen, for which I had a signing at BEA.

Henry "Hen" Birnbaum's life is a shambles. His girlfriend Petra both dumped him and fired him her band, PETRA. And on that same miserable rainy night Hen's sister, Sarah, mysteriously returns home after having vanished for an entire year. Worse, Sarah won't tell him where she's been and why. The solution to all of Hen's problems? Become a rock star.

You know things are bad when your dreams come with a washed-up '80s soundtrack.

I was excited to get a copy :) Now, can you tell us a little about your background in publishing and about your new job at Harper.

I started the month after I graduated from college--I knew I wanted to work in children's books, and I took the only job I could find: editing and writing cover copy for the Sweet Valley High series, and assisting in their production. The company behind Sweet Valley High, Daniel Weiss Associates, eventually became Alloy Entertainment. I worked on and off there from 1993 to 2009--at which point I joined Sourcebooks. Creating their YA imprint, Teen Fire, was by far my favorite part of the job, and watching it grow so quickly was amazing.

Just recently, I left Sourcebooks and joined the Harper staff as Director of Intellectual Property Development for the Children's department--working mostly on teen and tween fiction. (My boss, Elise Howard, was my very first boss at Daniel Weiss Associates, so I feel as if I've come full circle--it's very nice.) I am responsible for coming up with book series and properties in the emerging digital space for Harper to produce in-house. Once I pitch a project and Harper approves, I will work with the staff here to find an author and help to see the project through publication.

Sounds like a new way to go for Harper. How do you feel about book packaging in general and what will you do differently?

I know that packaging sometimes gets a bad rap--that a packaged series is somehow less real or legitimate than a work of fiction conceived entirely by an author--but some of the most amazing, compelling, and original teen and tween series have either been packaged by publishers in-house or conceived by an outside packager such as Alloy. As far as what I'll do differently goes... I'll definitely focus on bringing properties to life in a variety of media, and looking to the audience itself for guidance and inspiration.

You made a huge impact on Sourcebooks and started an online presence that grew quickly. What was your social networking strategy?

At Sourcebooks, in addition to our Ning Site and YAlitchat, they offered an “Author toolkit,” that encouraged authors to build a webpage as part of the Sourcebooks on-line presence. The marketing department also planned to send authors on extensive blog tours.

What do you think authors should focus on when promoting their books?

Connecting with their readers in any way possible is crucial. The YA authors who are the most exciting to me are those who are the most accessible to their fans: blogging, tweeting, interacting on existing social networking sites or sites of their own making.

What would you be if you were not an author or editor?

That’s easy. A musician! I play guitar in pretty much the only all-YA-author band on the planet, Tiger Beat, with Natalie Standiford, Libba Bray on vocals, and Barney Miller on drums. But if I were a full-time musician, I know I'd answer this question by saying, "What I really want to do is work in YA fiction."

Thanks Dan!
Note: You can also follow Dan on Twitter.

Thanks for having me Shelli!

For today, I'm giving away 2 of Dan's books: Tell it to Naomi and The AfterLife. Tell me, if you could be any rock star, who would it be and why?

Winner and Unplugging

The winner of Jessica Leader's Nice and Mean is..

Adventures in Children's Publishing

email me at sjohannes@bilaninc.com for instructions :)


Couple things:

1) I've decided to take a break and unplug until Tuesday so the schedule has changed for next week.
2) I plan to get the books won to date on friday so if you have not received it yet, it is probbaly in this next batch.
3) I have gotten several awards recently and have been awful at paying those forward. I am planning on doing that in the next couple of weeks so please don't hate me yet if you gave me one. I love them and plan to pass on each one!
4) I still have so many books so BEA Bonanza Giveaway is going to be extended into July!

Signing off for now.....don't worry....I will be back Tuesday! :)

Have a great holiday!

Jessica Leader - She's as Nice as they come. I mean it.

The winner of Forget Her Nots is...

Emily from Emily's Reading Room!

Today, Jessica Leader has stopped by and wants to give away a copy of her newly released book, Nice and Mean.

Nice and Mean appears on the Summer 2010 Kids IndieNext List.


Hi Jessica, tell us about yourself.

I am a young-adult writer, teacher, director, lover of cake and everything pickled.

Tell us about Nice and Mean (only in 140 characters – your twitter pitch!)


NYC seventh-graders, one nice, one mean, face off their high-profile video elective. Deception, unveiling, learning, laughs. You can read an excerpt here.


What inspired the story?


Nice and Mean’s two main characters, Marina and Sachi, were actually supporting characters in the first manuscript I ever wrote. That first story didn’t have enough action to make it work, but I remained intrigued by Marina and Sachi and knew that for my next piece, I wanted to focus on the two of them.

Throughout the first story, I had wondered: Why was Marina so mean and angry? How would she react if she ever came up against a force as strong as herself? And Sachi—the Indian honor-roll student, so nice, so loved, but so secretive—what would make her assert herself? When I realized how much these characters could learn from each other, I knew they belonged in a book together, and to make them interact, I paired them up in a video class they both cared about tremendously. I wanted to show how niceness and meanness (or assertiveness, really) both have their place but need to be tempered with their opposite. I hope I’ve succeeded.

Was there ever a time when you felt like giving up? Why didn’t you?


I can’t remember if there was any one time, but I do remember a meeting with an editor at an SCBWI conference that left me so incredibly frustrated that I peeled out of the parking lot leaving bitter voicemail messages for everyone I thought would listen. (Sorry, gang.) The editor did like aspects of the story, and some of her suggestions were spot-on, but she also gave me feedback that I just didn’t know how to translate at the time.

As upset as I was, though, I don’t think it occurred to me to give up. Call it confidence, call it arrogance, or call it late for dinner, but I believed that I had the skills to write stories worth telling and the dedication to make them worth reading. So I kept at it, and finally, after approximately five million years, one publisher—Simon and Schuster—said Nice and Mean, you’re on!


What have you learned about promoting books in your publication journey? What worked well for you? 


I quote my friend, writer Varian Johnson: “There are only two things you need to do: set up a website and write your next book.” He added (and now I’m paraphrasing) If you’re doing anything additional, do what you love. If you’re taking on additional promotion efforts and you don’t love them, it will show.

For me, doing what I love meant finding my target audience and forging genuine connections. I like talking about the craft of writing, and as a former middle-school English teacher, I love talking with teachers and librarians. Kidlitchat on Twitter led me to a local English teacher, who in turn led me to the bookseller that—unbeknownst to me—nominated Nice and Mean to the Summer 2010 IndieNext List. I hadn’t schemed to land there, and if I had, it probably wouldn’t have worked. But I did connect with the type of readers I cared about, and it turned out wonderfully well.

What was a waste?

The book hasn’t been out long enough for me to know if anything ended up being a waste, but I have heard from other debut authors that focusing on Amazon rankings is not a good use of time. Amazon represents only a small percentage of your sales, and the rankings are updated so frequently that any ground you might gain will probably be offset by someone else’s efforts. Focus on your next book instead!


What creative promotion ideas do you have for Nice and Mean?


Because the book deals with niceness, meanness, popularity and assertiveness, I’d love to connect with organizations that go into schools and do workshops on these issues. Teaching middle-school, it wasn’t hard to notice the uber-importance of social interactions, and I loved seeing how a good book discussion could affect students’ beliefs. I’m hopeful that Nice and Mean could be a part of such a conversation.

What’s your biggest fear and why?

Airplane turbulence. Just answering this question, in fact, reminds me that I have to send three copies of Nice and Mean to the man from Connecticut who calmed me down during a particularly stressful flight up to New York. (The three books are for his triplets. As kind as he was, I’m not assuming he needs three copies of the book.)

Thanks Jessica!

Thanks for having me on the blog, Shelli! I always come here when I need a boost, and I hope I’ve given something useful in return.

You can follow Jessica on her blog or Twitter.

To be entered in the drawing, tell us. Throughout the book, Marina pushes people to do things they don’t want to, and Sachi does things she doesn’t want to in order to please others.

Name one example of each that you have done in the past.