Sunday, November 17, 2013

Thoughts about STARLING, plus an excerpt!

Hi. There seems to be some confusion about the third book in the Secrets of the Eternal Rose series. Originally the book was called FORBIDDEN. This title was in place before I even began to write the book, and when I was finished  my editors and I all believed that the book needed a new title. STARLING was suggested by my Penguin editor, along with two other possibilities, both of which didn't capture the feeling of the narrative arc the way STARLING did.

We all felt STARLING was a good choice, but it was March of 2013 when we made this decision and the VENOM paperbacks were already at the printer. So if you bought a Venom paperback (thanks!) the end of your book will announce the title of book three as FORBIDDEN. That is no longer the title. Apologies for the confusion :-)

Note: many readers believe STARLING to be a spoiler for the end of the trilogy, since that's the nickname that Falco gave her. The reason we went with this title is because it fit Cass's journey of learning to fly, to free herself from the expectations on her under her own terms. It has nothing to do with the romantic resolution.

Here's a short excerpt to give you a little idea of what Cass and Luca are up to at the beginning of the book!

Excerpt from Chapter 4, edited slightly to remove spoilers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next day, Luca awoke free of fever and feeling stronger. Cass informed him of everything Narissa had told her.

“Vampire attacks in Venice? Could it be a coincidence?” He stretched his injured shoulder across his chest, massaging his stiff muscles with his other hand.

“I don’t know, but we should find out more before we go to Florence,” she said. “If Belladonna has come to town, it quite possibly means that she believes the book is here.”

Luca looked down and noticed Slipper still curled up on the wool blanket. He petted the cat gently. “What do you recommend?” he asked.

“I suppose we could do like Narissa and eavesdrop at the market,” Cass suggested.

“What about that workshop you told me about, the one with the symbol for the Order? Perhaps we should go by there and see if there’s any obvious activity.”

Cass blanched. She had mentioned Angelo de Gradi’s workshop to Luca but had never told him that she had broken in with Falco. He didn’t know about de Gradi’s collection of body parts or how the physician had nearly caught Cass trespassing. He didn’t know the mere mention of the place terrified her. She scooped Slipper into her arms, nestling the cat against her chest. He blinked sleepily and then started to purr.

“Cassandra,” Luca said. “You’ve gone white as a seabird. I don’t mean for us to go inside. I thought we might watch the building for a bit and see if anyone comes or goes.”

She nodded, but the thought of it made her breath go taut and her heart slam against her rib cage. The room with the tin basins appeared before her. She could smell the tinge of balsam in the air. She could feel the fabric of her nightgown catching on the broken shutter.

Angelo de Gradi’s hands reaching out for her...

“Or I could go alone,” Luca offered. “You could wait here for me.”

Cass knew they would be in little danger if they were only going to watch the de Gradi workshop from afar, but she never wanted to go anywhere near that horrible place again if she didn’t have to. But how to explain that without divulging that she had been inside, with Falco?

“What if you go to the workshop and I go to the market,” she suggested, releasing a squirming Slipper to the floor. “Then we can meet back here later and discuss what we’ve found.”

Luca watched as the cat pounced on a ball of dust. “It’s not safe for you to go wandering around the Rialto by yourself.”

“Luca, be reasonable. I’ll borrow a servant’s outfit and no one will even notice me. The market is always crowded. I’ll blend in with the masses.”

He reached out to touch the diamond necklace that hung in the hollow of her throat—a lily. He had given it to her before his arrest. “You’re a little well adorned to be a servant,” he said drily.

Cass tucked the pendant inside her bodice and chemise so that even the chain was hidden. “All better,” she declared. “Besides, consider this: if anyone is still looking for us, there’s a greater chance we’ll be recognized if we stay together, right? It’ll be safer for us to split up.” She wasn’t sure if this was technically true, but it made a logical kind of sense. The Senate knew she and Luca had escaped as a pair. They would most likely be expecting them to still be together.

Luca appeared to be thinking it over. “Just the market?” he asked. “You promise you won’t go anywhere else without me?”

“I promise I won’t do anything foolish,” Cass said. “Between the two of us, perhaps we’ll hear something about Dubois or Belladonna, or if not them, then something about this sudden scourge of vampires. If we don’t, we’ll plan to head to Florence tomorrow.”

Luca frowned. “I know how strong you are, Cassandra, but I hate the thought of leaving your side even for an instant. Perhaps we’re crazy to fight the Order by ourselves. Perhaps you should remain here and I should take the pages we have to the Senate and ask them to hear my testimony.”

Cass shook her head vehemently. “Don’t be ridiculous. Dubois owns the Senate. They wouldn’t hear your testimony. They’d probably execute you immediately.” Leaning close to Luca, she ran her fingers through his hair and then pressed her lips to his cheek. “I risked the world to get you back. I will not lose you again.”

Luca turned toward her. Cradling her face with one hand, he closed the gap between them until his forehead rested against hers. “I never imagined you . . .”

“What?” Cass whispered, the soft word melding with Luca’s breath. The sharp smell of the theriac balm tickled her nose. She could see the beginnings of a beard already growing out on his cheeks. “Wouldn’t want you to die?”

He leaned away so that he could look into her eyes. “That you would look at me as you are, and speak in this manner. Not as if you’d feel responsible if something happened to me, but as if you’d feel . . . lost.”

Cass felt her heart opening. It was like Luca had put into words something she hadn’t been able to herself. “Without you, I would be lost,” she admitted.

Want more STARLING? The book goes on sale March 20, 2014.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

The YA Scavenger Hunt is now over




#YASH is now over. Thanks to everyone who participated. I totally loved reading your comments about your favorite part of the hunt. THE RAFFLECOPTER HAS SPOKEN! My winner is Tal R.


Thanks again for visiting and I hope everyone had a wonderful #YASH :-)

Saturday, September 28, 2013

A few things...

Updates and info and fun stuff--list style:

1. I am starting a critique collaboration with Tara Kelly, Jessica Spotswood, and Elizabeth Richards. We each have two published novels with more on the way. All four of us love to critique query letters and manuscripts. We're offering competitive pricing for a variety of services and even student discounts on full MS critiques. Our official launch date is October 1. Come check us out at Manuscript Critique Services.

2. I am participating in YASH, the YA Scavenger Hunt which will run from Oct 3rd to October 6th. I will be giving away a signed copy of BELLADONNA, as well as running a secondary international contest for a gift card to Powell's Books. My exclusive material is a deleted scene from BELLADONNA, as well as a little teaser from STARLING. There are 60 authors participating this year! If you love books, you don't want to miss YASH.

3. It has come to my attention that some of you have not read the amazing GOING BOVINE, one of my favorite books of all time, so I will be rambling on about its awesomeness on the YA Valentines blog on October 8th. If you have not read it, come find out why you should.

4. My cover reveal for my first contemp, THE ART OF LAINEY, will be on October 9th at Ensconced in YA. I don't want to give away all of the fun details, but let's just say if you ever wanted to be in a book, you should probably stop by and enter the contest :)

5. I will be launching a Paula Stokes website/blog in October. More info on that soon. I will still post relevant Fiona-esque things here.

6. Someone left this random sunflower in the hallway of my building and it brightened my day. I have decided I really like sunflowers :)



That's all I got! Happy reading, writing, and whatever :)

Thursday, August 1, 2013

BELLADONNA playlist

So I came across this list when I was finishing up the edits for Starling and figured I'd share. Once again, I've tried to include more contemporary choices along with the dark 90s music that is my favorite. Sorry, I am not linking these, because I worry about linking to websites that will go dead and/or are in violation of copyright.

PRETTY GIRL by Sugarcult

VOODOO by Godsmack

BLOODSTREAM by Stateless

GET OUT ALIVE by 3 Days Grace

DOWN BY THE WATER by PJ Harvey

COSMIC LOVE by Florence and the Machine

AERIALS by System of a Down

PASSIVE by A Perfect Circle

INFECT by Bad Religion

LEAVE by Jojo

LYING FROM YOU by Linkin Park

DOWN IN A HOLE by Alice in Chains

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Blog tour winner!

Winner of the entire signed trilogy is: Rebecca Herman!

Email me or DM me on twitter, please. Let me know if you want the books signed, personalized to someone, etc.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. I responded to some of your blog tour ideas at the bottom of the comments of the previous post. I will definitely revisit your ideas in the future :) Thanks to all the Australian, US, and Canadian bloggers for being part of my fabulous and fun blog tours and thanks to everyone who came along for the ride. I had a blast. See you next time!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

When blog tours COLLIDE! + GIVEAWAY!!

Hi guys. So today is the day--the end of the blog tours and BELLADONNA's release day. Man, it seems so long ago that I finished writing that book. Publishing is weird like that--by the time your book comes out you're like, "Wait, which one is that again?" :)

So I had big plans for this contest. I was going to turn the whole Where in the World thing around and do a Where in St. Louis, featuring some of my local hangouts and some of the things I love about my city.

But then I got another edit letter for my first contemp, and some unrelated distressing news. And then I wasted some time being sad and anxious and going through the whole "I am working twice as many hours for half as much money. Is this whole writing thing worth it?" line of questioning.

And it is. It really is. But my work-life balance sucks right now. I can't remember the last day I quit work before midnight and I don't foresee doing that anytime in the next week until my next round of edits are done. So instead of spending all day wandering the city in search of fun photo ops for this contest, I'm going to do something different with the contest and spend today working on revisions. I hope you understand.

To some lucky US or Canadian person, I am giving away a VENOM paperback, a BELLADONNA hardcover, and a STARLING ARC--a trilogy of books for one big winner. All signed to whomever you want. All with matchy-matchy covers. I am going to select the winner of the contest randomly, from people who comment in the comments below, but I am giving everyone an extra entry (up to 15 total entries) for each of the US/CA blog tour posts they comment meaningfully on.

I don't normally angle for comments/likes/etc. in this manner, but I worked hard on the tour posts and all of the awesome US and CA bloggers worked hard too, getting everything up on time and laying out their posts in a visually appealing way. (Australia--you guys also rocked, but I can't send books overseas at this moment and you guys wouldn't want our US covers anyway, but for realz, I love you too). All of my lovely blogger peeps retweeted each other and supported each other and I feel so lucky to know them. They deserve your page hits and your comments.

For your comments on this post, I am curious to know how you feel about blog tours: Why do you like being a tour stop? Do you only read the posts with giveaways? Do you ever follow an author's entire tour? What do you wish you could see more of in blog tours? What do you want to see less of? I offered a stop to one US blogger who said, politely but frankly: "No thanks--I don't want an excerpt." You won't offend me with any of your thoughts. For your first entry, tell me anything you want to tell me about blog tours so next time I can make mine even better :)

This contest will run from now until the morning of July 22nd at which point I will close comments on this thread, count up the comments elsewhere, and use a random number generator to pick a winner. BEST OF LUCK!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Get a signed copy of BELLADONNA

Hi guys! BELLADONNA releases in the USA one week from today and I just wanted to let everyone know if you want a signed/personalized copy, and you live in the USA, you can preorder your copy from my local indie bookstore, Left Bank Books. I live about a mile away from the Euclid Left Bank store and will don my walking shoes (actually, they're Nike running shoes I designed myself on the NikeID website!) and hoof it to the store just to sign your book :)

Just order from this link and in the special comments let them know that you want the book signed and if you want it personalized what name I should write. Easy, breezy! If you're looking for a signed VENOM paperback, those should be available also. Thanks for all of your support <333

Friday, June 28, 2013

A TRILOGY of blog tours!

Because I pride myself on being an international sort of chica, I was psyched when bloggers from Australia, Canada, and the USA all reached out wanting to be part of a BELLADONNA blog tour.

Therefore, I give you:




Featuring: reviews, fun Q&As, excerpted teasers with commentary, and an interview with a certain dashing artist.

FOLLOW THE AUSTRALIAN TOUR:

1 July http://badassbookie.blogspot.com.au 
2 July http://turnersantics.blogspot.com
3 July http://treasuredtalesforyoungadults.wordpress.com
4 July http://speconspecfic.com/ 
5 July http://pixelski.blogspot.com.au/ 
6 July http://tsanasreads.blogspot.com.au/ 
7 July http://bookomatic.blogspot.com.au


I also give you:




This US tour kicks off with the release of the COMPLETE VENOM EPILOGUE which was cut during editing. Then, all week I will be posting exclusive excerpts from BELLADONNA and talking about research, revision, collaborating, etc. If you're interested in the writing process or checking out non-spoilery bits before the book hits the shelves, don't miss this tour. Tour ends with a giveaway of a STARLING ARC!

FOLLOW THE USA TOUR:


Posted by
Website
URL
Date
Adam


Paper Lantern Lit
July 8th
Pam


Bookalicious
July 9th
Teresa


Readers live a thousand lives
July 10th
Lili


Lili’s Reflections
July 11th
Kari

Kari’s Crowded Bookshelf
July 12th
Nikki


Fiction Freak
http://fiction-freak.blogspot.com
July 13th
Sara


Forever 17 Books
July 15th
Fiona


Fiona Paul’s blog
http://fionapaulbooks.blogspot.com
July 16th



Running concurrently with the USA tour and not to be outdone, I give you:
 
Team Canada's tour is full of fun lists, interviews, travel recommendations, deleted scenes, and thoughts on writing a trilogy. This tour will also culminate on my blog on BELLADONNA'S release day where all of you North Side peeps will also be eligible to win an ARC of STARLING.

FOLLOW THE CANADIAN TOUR:


Posted by
Website
URL
Date
Razorbill CA

Razorbill CA
Razorbill.ca
July 8th
Kathy


A Glass of wine
July 9th
Siobhan

Conversations of a reading addict
July 10th
Maria


Fantasy’s Ink
July 11th
Jessica


Read My Breath Away
July 12th
Emilie


Emilie’s Book World
http://emiliebookworld.blogspot.com
July 13th
Giselle


Book Nerd Canada
July 15th
Fiona
Fiona Paul’s blog
http://fionapaulbooks.blogspot.com
July 16th


SEE YOU ON RELEASE DAY WHEN I GIVE AWAY THE FIRST ARC OF STARLING, THE FINAL BOOK IN THE SECRETS OF THE ETERNAL ROSE TRILOGY :)

Thursday, June 6, 2013

For love of blog tours...and MAD PRIZES

Hi! I just wanted to let you know about a few fun things coming your way:

I am doing a 4-day Summer Solstice Sequels blog tour with my fellow Breathless Reads alums Elizabeth Richards, Jessica Spotswood, and Lili Peloquin. All of these spots are filled, but thank you for your interest :)


We'll be hanging out on 4 different blogs and sponsoring 4 different contests with 4 different prizes. Also, I've heard there may be humiliating teen photos of us... On June 20th we're having a Twitter party under the #SSSequels hashtag where there will be MAD PRIZES.

Now that I have your attention, heh, I also wanted to tell you I'm thrilled to be doing an Australian blog tour as well as a North American one for BELLADONNA. The Aussie tour is good to go, but the American one needs four more bloggers. Dates for this tour are July 9th through July 15th. Since I only have a few spots, I will be giving precedence to bloggers that are really crazy about the series but that I have never done features with before. Not to say that I don't appreciate my super-loyal bloggers (you know who you are <333) but I just want to give some new people a chance to get in on the fun.

Requirements:
You must have a primarily YA book-related blog.
You must have at least 250 followers.
Your blog must be formatted and designed to be readable.
You must have read and reviewed Venom (GR, Amazon, blog, etc.)
You must be at least 13.

Is this you? Email me at fionapaulbooks at gmail dot com by June 10th if you're interested in being part of the tour. I will select people randomly from the responses I get. If you're not selected or your blog doesn't have enough followers, no worries. I have (at least!) 3 more books coming out and I promise I will include you in the future if you remain interested.

Thanks! Happy reading, writing, and living :)

Sunday, June 2, 2013

For love of bloggers

So I haven't been as visible online lately because I finished graduate school and went on an epic trip without much internet access. And I honestly feel healthier being online less. I'm in the process of working up some promotional stuff for Belladonna's release, as well as edits for my contemp, revising a seekrit manuscript, and drafting an MG. (Not sure how that last one will go, but it's going to be a fun experiment).

Oh, and I'm looking for jobs in Portland, OR because I would like to move there. Do you live in Portland? If so, hire me :D

Anyway, I just wanted to say a kazillion hugs and love to all of the readers and bloggers who have posted, tweeted, emailed, and/or bought Venom. You guys mean the world to me, even if I'm not online every single day telling you that. Thank you, thank you, thank you! When I get a tweet like the one I got today, with the awesome fan art below, it totally blows me away and reminds me of how amazingly lucky I am to have supporters like you. Yes, YOU! So thanks to Nikki from Fiction Freak for this totally cute representation of Cass, and if anyone else has Venom fan art, send it my way so I can loooooooove on it :)


Friday, April 19, 2013

An interview with VENOM's interior book designer




After Venom hit the shelves, a lot of people emailed and tweeted to say that it was one of the most visually appealing books they had ever seen. From the gorgeous mask on the cover (courtesy of cover artist Kristin Smith), to the deckled edges, to the swirls and whorls on the pages, there's no doubt--Venom is stunning. In fact, the inside is so ornate in places that many bloggers, like this one and this one, included pix of the design in their reviews. And even the readers who weren't huge fans of the story quite still commented on how beautiful the book is. So who do I have to thank for that? My editor? Book faeries? Would you believe an interior book designer? Yeah, apparently that's a real job, and what a cool job it must be :) I reached out to Venom's designer, Amy Wu, to find out more about just how  the book ended up so gorgeous and perfect. 



1. So you're an interior book designer. What exactly does that entail?

A: Yes, I am an interior book designer for YA novels here at Philomel Books! I also work on our picture books. The art department is made up of the art director, Semadar Megged and myself.

Everything within the pages are planned and specifically placed on the page. The best way for me to explain what we do is we decide how a book is read, from the size and style of the typeface, to how many pages it will be, and how a chapter opens, usually with artwork or ornament elements.


2. When you're assigned a title, what's the process like? Are you given basic instructions by the editor or cover designer? Do you have to pitch your ideas to a committee? Or are you just given free rein to make books beautiful however you see fit?

A: Semadar and I meet with the editor to discuss each title. We ask questions like what is the age group, how long should the book be, is there anything we should incorporate into the design, such as a symbol or emblem from the story. For example, here are the notes I jotted down during the Venom meeting with Jill:

  • 14 and up
  • Venice
  • 16th century
  • Renaissance
  • If possible, page count should be around 400 pages (Venom was 448-pages)
  • Big margins, spacious design
  • Type size and space feel
  • Need room for epigraphs introducing each chapter
  • Rose petal design element
  • Deckled edges

The interior designers aren’t always shown the jacket design. Sometimes I do not see the front cover until after I have designed 1st pass. This is a double edge sword. Firstly, it is good if I don’t see the jacket because I do not feel bound to the jacket’s aesthetic. However, I do like to tie the jacket and interior design together. Usually I accomplish this by using the same typefaces and title treatment on the jacket.

I come up with several design variations, which I show the art director, and we tweak what I have. Once I’ve finalized at least 3 options, I show the editor who has the final say. I’m not sure if I would want free rein with the interior design, Semadar and Jill will always catch something that I might not see. It’s nice that I can collaborate and go back forth before settling on a final design.


3. Do all Penguin Teen books have interior designers?

A: Yes!



4. Do you have any specific training that helped you land your position?

A: I went to the School of Visual Arts for my undergraduate and I specifically studied book design. My portfolio out of school centered on books. I took a class with Steven Brower in my junior year called Book Jacket Design and Beyond and he was later my senior portfolio teacher. My very first design job out of school was at Eric Baker Design. I worked on many books there, but no experience in children’s books and YA Novels until coming to Penguin Group.



5. Can you tell us some of the other books you've designed?

A: Since I’ve started at Penguin Group, I’ve designed three picture books, The World’s Greatest Lion by Ralph Helfer, Bully by Patricia Polacco, and Max and the Tag Along Moon by Floyd Cooper. YA Novels I’ve designed include John Flanagan’s latest series called Brotherband Chronicles, Lisa Graff’s two novels with us, Double Dog Dare and A Tangle of Knots, as well Jane Yolen’s spin on fairy tales, Snow in Summer and Curse of the Thirteenth Fey, as well as the Charlie Collier series by John V. Madormo. My latest interior book design was Kari Luna’s The Theory of Everything.


6. What about one book you wish you could have designed, but didn't?

A: One book I wish I designed amongst the Philomel titles is Between Shades of Gray. When I first started back in May 2010 that was the first novel I read of ours. Semadar designed the interior of this one, along with Ruta’s newest title Out of the Easy. This was before Amy’s (B.A.) time. Another YA novel I wish I designed outside of Penguin is Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Quirk Books). I’m a big fan of Diane Arbus and the interior design of this book reminded me of her.


7. Have you read any of the blog reviews that gush about your work with Venom? I've read more than one where the reviewer was so blown away by the interior that she posted pictures of it on her blog. (Pretty sure you're earning Venom an extra half star per review...and I'll take it! :D)

A: That is very sweet. I have read blog reviews of Venom, where they mention the interior design and the deckled edge, but not the one you speak of with photo evidence! Please send it my way!



8. What's your favorite part of the interior of Venom, the design you most enjoyed doing?

A: My favorite part of Venom’s interior design are the epigraph pages, dark background, the triangular florid ornament framing each quote from The Book of the Eternal Rose. The quotes are all dark and mysterious and hint towards the chapter ahead and the stark black background is aligning with the tone. I also really like the sliver of the flourish in the gutter of the book. It ties in well with the Venetian backdrop of the story and it reminiscent of the gilded architecture during that period.

I enjoyed designing Venom. I really got to take my time and reiterate my layouts until what the readers now see. Here are some designs that did not make the cut; perhaps your readers would be interested in seeing those too. 

[Amy sent these amazingly awesome other sketch ideas, but alas I am not skilled enough to embed pdf stuff into my blog or make pdf stuff into jpg stuff. I am not even skilled enough to make Blogger stop doing this weird highlight-y stuff and changing my arial to TNR when I'm not looking. #AuthorFail]


9. Do you do any freelance design of books or other stuff? 

A: There are only two books I’ve designed as a freelancer and they were both with W.W. Norton. Those two titles were Carl G. Jung’s The Red Book and the photographs of Benjamin Mendlowitz in the third volume of the Wooden Boats. My most recent freelance gig was a European healthcare and tech magazine called Insights. I helped design their premiere issue. My personal website is www.amywutoo.com.


10. And, you know, because it's the question that is most pertinent to everything in the world...Falco or Luca? [Actually Amy volunteered to answer this herself, but, you know, it is super-important :D]

A: I’m torn. I keep going back and forth between the two lads. My head picks Luca and my heart picks Falco.


Like Amy, I also need both boys :) Luca is so sweet but Falco is, well, Falco. Do you have questions for Venom's amazing designer? What other books have you really noticed the interior design of while reading?

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Is work-for-hire right for you?

There are plenty of work-for-hire opportunities out there—everything from developing short articles for Demand Studios to writing educational content for textbooks to writing full-length novels for book development companies. With respect to full-length novels, WFH isn't a guaranteed lifelong job in publishing or a surefire path to an agent, but it can teach you a lot. You can learn how to be a disciplined writer. It can give you a chance to practice your craft. And if you're not already published, it can serve as a crash course in the field of publishing and introduce you to other authors and industry pros. And all of THAT stuff may very well help you get your original work published.

But how to know if you're a good fit?


1. Are you comfortable with what the company is asking?

WFH contracts vary widely. Some share copyright. Some demand publicity and touring. Some insist you put your picture on the jacket flap, have a blog, and even be open to touring. Some insist you don't put your picture on the jacket flap and don't even want you to publicly associate yourself with the book. Some pay royalties or subrights. Some don't. Be sure you know what the company's expectations are before you sign on the line.


2. Do you have an agent, a lawyer, or a high knowledge of contracts? 

Packagers and publishers alike are going to offer you less-favorable contracts if you don't know enough to advocate for yourself. Even if you are a savvy negotiator, keep in mind that wages are usually set by supply and demand and there is a much greater supply of talented writers out there than demand for them. Just look at the gazillions of people providing entertaining online content for free. Note: the Authors' Guild will not review WFH contracts, at least that's what they told me.


3. Are you fast?

Here Libba Bray talks about how “if you can outline a book and then write it in six weeks you can do pretty much anything.” Six weeks even sounds fast to me, but being expected to write and revise 30-40 pages a week is well within the realm of normal. If I'd had a full-time job or a family, I never could have kept up with my own writing and my work-for-hire stuff. And I am very fast :)


4. Are you flexible?

In a WFH contract it isn't all about you and what you want. Maybe you'll get to write the outline. Maybe not. Maybe all your thoughts will be embraced. Chances are, some of them will be embraced and some of them will be vetoed. You may be asked to write a book that you wouldn't necessarily want to read. Are you cool with that? If not, make sure you and your editor have the same creative vision upfront and provisions for how to reconcile differences that might arise along the way.


5. Do you have enough time to write WFH and continue your own writing too?

This was a big one for me. I put a ton of effort into my work-for-hire books and I do feel proud of them, but if I had needed to put my own writing on hold, I would have felt like WFH was a step away from my dream. Doing it as I did, I clearly see the benefits I got from my contract and I don't feel like I deferred progress toward my ultimate goal.


6. Do you love the project?

Writing is hard work. Revising is even harder work. The more you love your story, the easier it is to keep polishing it until it is perfect. Imagine being forced to read a book you feel so-so about. Now imagine being forced to read that book 30 times in 3 months as you write and revise it. Yeah. That would be crazy-making, right?

If you can answer yes to those six questions then congrats, it sounds like work-for-hire is right for you. But here's everything I've ever read about work-for-hire--the good, the bad, the thought-provoking--in case you're on the fence or just curious:

Paper Lantern Lit has been profiled in Businessweek and Fast Company.

Is book packaging YA's dirty little secret? 

The always hilarious and insightful Maureen Johnson weighs in on the scandal.

In the interest of fairness, here's James Frey's blog where he tells his side of the story and how things at FFF have changed.

A work-for-hire writer who enjoyed the experience even though his book never made it to the shelves.


A steady WFH writer lists still more work-for-hire links.