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Yes, the new cover means that it is unlikely possible that Liar will may not be available in US and Canadian stores on the announced publication date of 29 September. I don't know what the new pub date is but it will definitely be in October. As soon as I know I'll pass it on. Update: My US publisher says there's still a strong possibility Liar will be available at the end of September as planned. (Note: this is the hardcover first edition of Liar I am talking about. There will not be a North American paperback until next year.)
There is no planned UK edition as UK rights have not sold. The English language editions, both to be ...
Posted by Justine at 0:23, August 9th, 2009 under Admin, Liar |
As you've probably heard by now Liar is getting a new cover for its publication in October. ((No, it's not actually out yet.)) First Bloomsbury considered going with the Australian jacket of Liar and specifically with the black and red version you can see
here because that would be the easiest thing to do. The design already exists after all and the window to make the change was very narrow.
However, given the paucity of black faces on YA covers, and the intensity of the debate around the original Liar cover, Bloomsbury felt really strongly that a more representative approach was needed. Rather than using a stock photo, Bloomsbury went the whole hog and did a photo shoot. The ...
Posted by Justine at 17:41, August 6th, 2009 under Liar, Praising, State of the World |
As you may have already discovered if you read Publisher's Weekly's "
Children's Bookshelf," Bloomsbury is rejacketing the hardcover edition of Liar. My wish came true much sooner than I expected. Thank you to everyone who expressed your concerns. Thank you to Bloomsbury for listening.
As soon as the jacket is final, which should be soon, I'll be posting it here. Yes, I was involved in the cover design process.
I am delighted that my post about the original Liar jacket got some traction. But everything I said there had been said many times before by authors and bloggers of colour. Whitewashing of covers, ghettoising of books by people of colour, and low expectations (reflected in the lack of marketing push behind ...
Posted by Justine at 16:07, August 6th, 2009 under Bloggery, Liar, State of the World |
In the last few weeks as people have started reading the US ARC of Liar they have
also started asking why there is
such a
mismatch between how
Micah describes herself and the cover image. Micah is black with nappy hair which she wears natural and short. As you can see that description does not match the US cover.
Many people have been asking me how I feel about the US cover, why I allowed such a cover to appear on a book of mine, and why I haven't been speaking out about it.
Authors do not get final say on covers. Often they get no say at all....
Posted by Justine at 12:02, July 23rd, 2009 under Liar, New York City/USA, Publishing business, State of the World, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 11:43, July 7th, 2009 under Bloggery, Liar, Scott's books, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 2:22, June 27th, 2009 under Liar, Vainglory |
Liar just sold to
Salani in Italy. They're the publishers of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. Cool, huh? For those keeping count Liar has now sold in six countries. This is massively more sales than any of my other books have made prior to publication. I am dizzy. (I posted recently on
how foreign rights works for those who want to know why I am so excited.)
In other news: today I met someone who looks so much like Tom in the Magic or Madness trilogy I almost gasped. He's a red head and taller and older (20 rather than 15) than Tom, but other than that identical. I had to stop myself from calling him "Tom." This ...
Posted by Justine at 13:20, June 19th, 2009 under Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Because my next book is Liar there has been much talk of lying on this blog lately. But for all that talk I haven't yet touched on people who are forced to lie about who they are in order to survive. Libba Bray
posted beautifully and movingly about her gay dad and the ways he was forced to lie:
My dad came of age in the 1940’s in the Deep South. Being gay was more than just not okay then; it was downright dangerous. When my father was involved with a man while stationed in Korea and it was discovered, he was given a dishonorable discharge from the Army, which in effect nullified his service to the country and haunted ...
Posted by Justine at 8:31, June 17th, 2009 under Liar, State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 14:45, June 14th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Ideas, Liar, Vainglory, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 0:10, June 7th, 2009 under Liar, Publishing business, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, May 29th, 2009 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Liar, Listening, New York City/USA |
Yesterday's post got a pretty overwhelming not really from most of my readers. Most of you do not lie about
those five things. (I was made very happy by all the teenage non-drinkers. Yay, youse!)
Judging from your comments and my own experience here's my suggestion of a top five:
That you didn't do the thing your parents/teacher/boss busted you for
That your friends' clothes/appearance looks fine
Your health in order to get out of school/work
Height
Weight
I have lied about all of these. But not about no. 1 in a very long time. Or about no. 3 and no. 4 in ages. Haven't lied about no. 3 since I had a regular job. Sadly my no. 2 areas of lies is still going ...
Posted by Justine at 0:03, May 27th, 2009 under Bloggery, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy |
An anonymous reader sent me
this link to the top five things people lie about:
1. Age
2. Alcohol Consumption
3. Sexual History
4. Changed Appearance
5. Job
I am very pleased to see that I haven't lied about any of them.
Well, except no. 1 when I was little in order to get into bars. ((Don't try that at home, kids what are under 18 (in Australia) or 21 (in the USA).)) Oh, and no. 5 a few times when I didn't feel like answering the usual questions you get after you say you're a writer. "Have you published anything?" "Would I have heard of you?" "Can you set ...
Posted by Justine at 0:02, May 26th, 2009 under Liar, Research |
Posted by Justine at 14:55, May 23rd, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Scott's books, Vainglory |
My blog has no copy editor, no proof reader, and no fact checker. It's just me. Occasionally I'll get Scott or one of my friends to proof a post, but not often. They're busy. Even more rarely my readers will point out errors. Yesterday someone wrote and told me I'd misspelt Count Basie's name on my bio page. *Blushes*. I was extremely grateful. That mistake had already been there close to a year! Who knows how many more such errors there are all over this blog?
I'm not
a great speller and I find proper nouns especially difficult. The copy editors on my last two books, How To Ditch Your Fairy and Liar, found I'd spelled various of the characters ...
Posted by Justine at 18:03, May 15th, 2009 under Bloggery, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar |
Posted by Justine at 8:37, May 14th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Research, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 12:52, May 13th, 2009 under Liar, Research, Science |
Posted by Justine at 8:57, April 17th, 2009 under Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy |
I'm getting some push back in email and elsewhere about
this post so I'd like to set the record straight ((Wish me luck with that.)):
There's absolutely nothing wrong with asking a publisher for an ARC (advance reader copy) of a book.
ARCs are created solely to promote the book in question. The hope is that the ARCs will go out to bloggers and reviewers and librarians and booksellers and generate excitement and enthusiasm for the book ahead of its publication date. That's what ARCs are for.
My sole purpose in posting was to let people know that I'm not the person to contact for Liar ARCs. I was not saying that you should not try to get hold of ...
Posted by Justine at 13:49, April 15th, 2009 under Liar, Publishing business |
Posted by Justine at 0:02, April 15th, 2009 under Frippery, Liar |
Posted by Justine at 12:02, April 14th, 2009 under Frippery, Liar |
Posted by Justine at 10:41, April 12th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Admin, Liar, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, April 12th, 2009 under Bloggery, Liar, Vainglory |
Remember way back on Wednesday when I previewed the
Oz cover of my next novel, Liar? Well, now it's time to have a squizz at what my publisher in the US of A came up with. This cover was so well received by sales and marketing at Bloomsbury that for the first time in my career a cover for one of my books became the image used for the front of the catalogue. Front of the catalogue! One of my books! Pretty cool, huh?
Apparently all the big booksellers went crazy for it. My agent says it was a huge hit in Bologna. And at TLA many librarians and teenagers told me they adore this cover. In fact one girl ...
Posted by Justine at 0:09, April 10th, 2009 under Liar, New York City/USA |
Some of my writer friends are going barking mad waiting for their books to come out. Especially the newbies. I have decided the only solution is for the world's mad scientists to drop whatever they're working on ((Turning us all into twitttering pod people, taking over the world's supply of mangosteens, turning the lakes of Canada purple etc. etc.)) and instead invent a brain patch that stops the thinking-bout-next-book-coming-out part of the brain.
Could you do it now-ish, please? Some of my friends are OUT OF CONTROL.
I, of course, am completely sane and rational as I wait for Liar to come out.
Posted by Justine at 17:15, April 8th, 2009 under Frippery, Liar, Science |
Posted by Justine at 0:02, April 8th, 2009 under Liar, Praising, Publishing business |
I am extremely happy to let youse all know that I just said yes to a joint offer from
Bolinda in Australia and
Brilliance Audio in the USA to produce audio versions of How To Ditch Your Fairy and Liar.
This makes me especially happy as it guarantees an Australian actor will read How To Ditch Your Fairy. Yay! It will sound the way it's supposed to and not like Dick Van Dyke doing a cockney accent in Mary Poppins. ((Yes, I might possibly be referring to the audio version of the Magic or Madness trilogy. I might even be implying that it's unspeakably bad. Maybe.))
Will let you know as soon as I hear when the release dates will ...
Posted by Justine at 0:02, April 7th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, New York City/USA |
Posted by Justine at 11:00, April 3rd, 2009 under Liar, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia, Titles & names |
Yesterday and today at TLA (Texas Library Association) I signed 200 ARCs (advance readers copies) of Liar. That's right, there are now copies of Liar out there in the wild.
This is a little unnerving. I've been thinking about Liar since I first got the idea in February 2005. Here it is just over four years later and Liar is almost a real book. Which other people will be reading soon.
Gulp.
I was not feeling at all nervous about Liar being read by people who aren't my agent, publisher, or friends until I started signing the ARCs. Suddenly it dawned on me that my book---the actual solid paper thing---is now going to be read and thought about, or put ...
Posted by Justine at 17:52, April 2nd, 2009 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Liar |
Posted by Justine at 9:56, March 31st, 2009 under Admin, Cons & Other Gatherings, Liar |
Posted by Justine at 1:47, March 17th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, Ranting, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 1:28, March 8th, 2009 under Cricket, Liar, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 7:59, February 26th, 2009 under Liar, Listening, Research |
The
round up of fall books (USian for autumn) appeared in Publishers Weekly. I think that's why I've been getting such an uptick in queries about my next book. Here's what PW said about my publisher's fall list:
BLOOMSBURY
Bloomsbury shows its claws with Girls Acting Catty by Leslie Margolis, a sequel to Boys R Dogs; Forest Born by Shannon Hale, fourth in the Books of Bayern fantasy series; Eat Fresh Food by Rozanne Gold, a guide for young chefs; Lady Macbeth’s Daughter by Lisa Klein, about a girl who learns of her complicated heritage; and an untitled mystery novel by Justine Larbalestier.
I'm in great company, aren't I? Leslie Margolis, Shannon Hale, Lisa Klein! Fab writers all. I'm especially keen to ...
Posted by Justine at 15:56, February 18th, 2009 under Liar |
Posted by Justine at 2:18, February 10th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Praising, Science, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
I have an older character, who lives in upstate NY and has pretty much her whole life, who refers to jeans as "dungarees". I had her use that word after consulting with friends from upstate who remembered people of their grandparents' generation and older using that word. I have been challenged on this by someone who thought the word was Australian. Absolutely not. ((I suspect I'm going to cop that a lot with the Liar book---people assuming I've gotten things wrong---like having New Yorkers saying they're waiting "on line"---when, in fact, I've gotten it right, but they just don't happen to know some of the local New Yorker dialect. Many USians assume that all USians talk the same. So not ...
Posted by Justine at 1:16, February 2nd, 2009 under Liar, New York City/USA, Words & Language |
Kim says:
How do you organize all the jumbles of idea generating, plot generating, character generating, and so on, in order to see what you have, so you can then take it and put it all together somehow? In my example, I have a 100 page document focused on one story (one novel) only. It has snippets of scenes, plot ideas, potential background for characters, what ifs and opposing what ifs, outlines and ideas for character’s backgrounds, and so on and so forth. Again, it’s specifically focused on one novel and one story idea, but it also includes multiple options for that novel and story idea etc. I’m finding that I can’t move forward with structuring this story without knowing what ...
Posted by Justine at 6:41, January 31st, 2009 under Liar, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 19:59, January 18th, 2009 under Liar, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 2:19, January 16th, 2009 under Liar, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 2:11, January 11th, 2009 under Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing process |
Malcolm Tredinnick Says:
Picking a point of view and how you learnt to work with the different types would be something I’d be interested to hear about. As a reader, I kind of know when the point of view works for the story and when it doesn’t, but I don’t really know how consciously writers make the choice or how you do it.
Hmmm, a tricky one first up. Curses!
I think I may have mentioned that for most of my writing life i.e since I was five and first started, I wrote short stories, not novels. I'd start many but not finish them. But I finished hundreds of short stories. None of them were much good as stories, but ...
Posted by Justine at 4:03, January 2nd, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Writing process |
One of the conversations that I have most frequently with my good friend,
Diana Peterfreund, is about our different writing methods. She's an outliner; I wing it.
Tis most excellent fun talking writing with her precisely because we could not be more different. So different that we frequently wind up talking at cross purposes. Last time we had this discussion we got hung up on the phrase "first draft". Turns out that what she means by "first draft" is not what I mean.
Because Diana outlines she figures out much of the novel before she begins writing. I figure things out as I write the first draft. Thus my first drafts---zero drafts really---are frequently messy conversation spines. A large part of ...
Posted by Justine at 2:52, December 17th, 2008 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Words & Language, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
So I may have mentioned that my title for the liar book, Why Do I Lie?, was rejected by my publisher and by most of the people who've read the book. ((Curse you all!)) We've been on the hunt for a new title and may, at long last, have settled on one.
Yay!
Posted by Justine at 17:35, November 23rd, 2008 under Liar, Titles & names |
Posted by Justine at 13:20, November 21st, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, New York City/USA, Scott's books, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 15:46, November 9th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery, Excuses, Fans & readers, Liar, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 1:00, November 4th, 2008 under Excuses, Liar, New York City/USA, State of the World, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 7:50, October 31st, 2008 under Liar, New York City/USA, State of the World, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 28th, 2008 under Liar, Whingeing, Writing life, Zombies |
Riddle me this:
Why do I so often think that a dream sequence will solve my plot problems when as a reader I hate dream sequences?
Gah!
Yeah, I just deleted the dream sequence.
Posted by Justine at 12:23, October 26th, 2008 under Liar, Whingeing, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 12:40, September 23rd, 2008 under Basketball, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, New York City/USA, Praising, Sport, Writing goals & milestones, Young Adult literature |
