A Funny Thing Happened Yesterday

And no, it wasn't that my Internet finally came back on (that happened this morning--grumble, grumble, grumble). This Eureka! Moment happened at Barnes & Noble. I was chit chatting with my gal pal, Sheri, when suddenly the books on the shelves started talking to me (metaphorically of course. I haven't gone that cuckoo yet.). I knew them personally--the authors who wrote them and their publishing journeys. It was all Grease Lightning and I felt like a total insider.

First I saw Jennifer Stanley's new release Stirring Up Strife and I immediately thought about her guest blog post at BookEnds. Her post, Take a Risk--Stay True to Your Voice, reminded us to "Forget what you think people are looking for and write your story." It's totally easy to get caught up in publishing trends, but in the end "you don’t want to ride a trend; you want to start one."Amen girlie.

Then I spotted Jennifer Hubbard's The Secret Year and was all excited to check out the author's debut. After following Jennifer's tweets and Nathan Bransford's blog posts on the subject, I already knew so much about the novel and its history, which made seeing it sitting on the bookshelf even more special. It's awesome to follow an author throughout the publication process. Congrats Jennifer!

And what book was next to Jennifer's? Liar written by Justine Larbalestier. For those who don't know, there was a little controversy last July regarding the book's US cover. The protagonist, Micah, is described as "black with nappy hair which she wears natural and short." So what did the US cover look like? Of course it featured a white girl with long brown hair. Yeah, not sure what the publisher was thinking exactly, but after an uproar, the cover was eventually remedied (that's the revised cover to the left). You can check out Justine's post on the subject here if you want.

The coolest part about all of this, is now more than ever I feel like I'm a part of this industry, or at least I know a thing or two about it. And I really have all of you, my fellow Bloggers, to thank for this. I've learned so much in the past year and it keeps getting better. So THANK YOU. I can't wait to continue to share my journey with you.