true adventures of awaking hearts

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So today marks the 20th aniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. What this means for me is that I've been alternatively blubbering and feeling really old whenever I watch the news, which is usually three to four times a day, sigh.

I have a very vivid memory of watching the wall fall, live on the news. It wasn't the first time I became aware that the world was bigger than, like, my immediate family (that was Chernobyl, which I don't recall seeing on the news, but I do remember my mum and gran talking about the potential fallout), but it was the first time I felt actually connected to current events. It's also one of the few really vivid memories I have from before I was about ten -- I can still easily recall sitting crosslegged on the floor in front of the couch, watching the telly.

(I actually spent years convinced this had to be an inaccurate memory, because the wall fell around 10 PM, which was way past my bed time, surely? Except it was a Thursday, so I would've been up late to watch Dallas anyway, and my parents confirmed that they'd have let me stay up to watch something this historical if I wanted to.)And then I became a news junkie in the worst way for the next decade or so, until 9/11 somewhat overdosed me on it and the subsequent Bush shenanigans forced me to put myself on a restricted news diet for a while, sigh.

But to return to my orginal point: Yaye 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall! Excuse me while I go be easily manipulated and blubber some more.

+I have a cold (again). Waah!

+The down time has been applied to watching Psych, which is very adorable, and sleeping, and I rewatched SPN 5x01-5x04 but due to congestion and head muddledness have no coherent thoughts to offer. I did kind of hazily note that the first four episodes do seem to reinforce what Kripke said this season was about, the importance of connection to others. Also, just a random me thing about the show which I'm sure some other people do too, I seem to always notice who wrote the script and who directed it, and the writer-director team seems to matter, almost like they have to have the right chemistry, in addition to some writers and directors working better than others for me. I'm not sure this matters as much for all shows -- some shows seem to go for more one-shot freelance script writers or directors, while SPN is the type that pulls from the same pool of people again and again. The X-Files was like SPN, there was a stable list of writers and directors and if you saw certain names you knew you'd possibly get pwned.


+This was linked a lot on my flist. Fandom provides! \o/



Also, so not fandom's fault. He really did start it. *points at Kripke*

I feel I cannot be blamed for writing this entry for it. I did mention I have a head cold and a slight fever?

+SPN crack fic rec: Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree by bellatemple. Gen, SPN 5x08 related. Sunday dinner. Bweee!

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Commentfic that took me forever to archive here. Thank you to all who already read and left fb. <3

On your shoulder
Gen, PG, 1,500 words

a/n: Set in early Season 5. Originally posted here at the end of Sept 2009 for the spn_castiel Commentfic meme, polished up some since then. This is for thandie, who a while back had a birthday, and got sick, after she gave the prompt Dean gets a flu and he's insufferable and bitchy about it. Castiel tries to be of comfort with his customary patience.

Summary: Dean is doing just fine alone. Just fine.

( Yeah, so he would've fallen if Castiel hadn't been holding on. So what. )

How did we meet? Copy and paste this, you will find it amusing to see how you met and know some of your friends!

Dear Television Advertising,

Why was John Lydon trying to sell me butter last night? I mean, I'm not one to get all "OMG SELLOUT!", because whatever, but ... butter? What? My flabber is officially gasted, here, people. o_O

Also, what the shit is this? Are you serious?

Now I'm boggled and despairing for humanity. Thanks a lot, douchebags.

Going back to her NaNovel,
Melle

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I asked on Twitter if anyone had anything they’d like to ask me about my job/writing/book/publishing in general, and got a number of great questions. I’m going to limit this post to four, though, as the first answer is quite long! Of course, I’m definitely extending the opportunity to you guys, as well–feel free to ask me anything in the comments.

1. @dy0ulee How do you get to work in the publishing industry?”

Ah, this question has a not-so-easy answer! To be completely honest, it’s become a bit of a challenge to get a job in publishing (and I could write a whole entry about all of the different jobs within the publishing industry). The industry, at least as I understand it, has always been a bit of an old boy’s club, meaning that many of us got our positions through networking or relationships with people already in the publishing house. I once heard that 70% of publishing jobs aren’t actually posted for the public to see, but I’m not sure that’s really the case anymore… (Though it’s certainly true that many jobs will be posted on our internal job site first, allowing internal candidates the opportunity to move within the company.) This summer I found out that whenever a job is posted on a company’s public job board, it gets anywhere between 200-600 applications depending on the position. That’s why it’s important to know someone and/or apply right when the listing goes up.

After spending three years in college trying to nail one down, I have to say that getting an internship at one of the big houses, especially during the summer, is TOUGH. It really is a who-you-know-that-can-forward-your-resume game. BUT! While it is a little bit of a challenge, it’s certainly not impossible to get an internship at a literary agency. This tends to be really great experience, especially if you have designs on wanting to be an agent or editor—plus the agent that you work for is bound to be connected and will serve as a great reference later on. Be sure to check your college/university’s alumni network as well, and ask if you can pick their brain (via email or meeting for coffee if they’re local). It’s really important to get your name out there! I must have gone on at least 15 informational interviews while I was applying.
Basically every alumni from my school told me that the only way to get a job in commercial publishing was to attend one of the publishing courses that are held over the summer. I’m biased towards Columbia’s (the program run by the amazing Lindy Hess, who many of us consider the Godmother of the publishing industry) because that’s the one I attended, but NYU and Denver both have great programs. I was also given the advice that NYU focuses a little more on magazines than books, though with the state of the magazine industry… not sure if that’s true anymore. The publishing course taught me A LOT about every aspect of the industry and gave me hands-on practice during the Book Workshop. The other attendees ranged from never having held a publishing internship to having three or four under the belt. Unfortunately, the programs aren’t entirely cheap—but many schools and programs do have scholarships and grants available.

Of course, right now it’s even tougher to get a position due to the economy and the fact that the industry is shrinking. If it’s what you really want to do, there’s always a way to slip in, but I REALLY recommend attending one of the courses. Of course, the most important thing you can do for yourself is to prepare by reading as much as possible in the field you want to be working in so you can talk about these books in a critical way. You don’t have to be a creative writing major, but having strong writing skills will definitely help! Likewise, I know many publishers are looking for new employees to be somewhat versed in social networking and the online world.

2. @SabriHorande How long does it take aprox between the book deal and the actual publishing date?

18 months/1.5 years is standard, though it really does depend on the project itself. Many books are bought on a three chapter proposal, and while some of them do manage to appear on shelves 18 months after acquisition, some actually do take a couple of years. It’s generally in a book’s best interest not to be rushed through production, because it means the editor and author will have more time to go back and forth with revisions, design won’t be rushed to come up with something, etc. From the author’s side, it doesn’t seem like it should take that long, but there are dozens of little mini-steps that a publisher goes through to put the book out into the world. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some books are “crashed” onto schedules and rushed through production, either to fill a gap on a list, to be other similar books from a competitor, or because of some recent event (such as Michael Jackson’s death).

It’s also good to mention here that houses function under a season system (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer), though every house has different months for different seasons. I believe Egmont does Fall, Spring, Summer (?), but my place of employment does Fall, Winter, Summer. Some books are better suited for a certain season, so publication timelines sometimes also depend on that. BRIGHTLY WOVEN sold in November of 2008 and won’t be published until March 2010 = 16 months.

3. @_rachelsimon What do you do on a daily basis @ your job? read, edit, what exactly?

To refresh everyone, I work as an editorial assistant. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I very rarely read and edit while I’m in the office. Most of this work has to be done at home. As the months go by, I’m sure I’ll be given a little editing to do, but as it stands, I mainly function as a reader, router, tracker, and writer.

Reader—I read submissions and write reader’s reports on them. Sometimes someone on my team will ask me to read something they’ve been reading to get a second opinion. We have both group and department editorial meetings, in which editors come together to get others’ opinions on projects that they’re thinking about acquiring or aren’t sure about.

Router—I route all production materials, marketing materials, sales materials, design materials… I do a lot of floor hopping

Tracker—I track my team’s submissions, contracts (and send out executed contracts and checks), my boss’ expenses, our team’s calendar, signings… you get the picture. I have a lot of excel spreadsheets in my life. I also answer one of our big author’s fanmail.

Writer—I write a lot of copy, too. Jacket copy, memos for cover designs, titlesheets, launch presentations… lots and lots of writing…

It really does depend on the day of the week, and what big events are coming up on our schedule.

4. @TracyBuchanan How long did it take between ur agent subbing out Brightly Woven&getting the deal? How’d you deal with the wait (if you had 1!)

Hmmm… I think we submitted end of October/early November and I had Egmont’s offer maybe two weeks later? Is it bad that I can’t give you an exact date?? It went pretty fast—we started hearing back from editors right after that first weekend, but the deal finalized until Thanksgiving though. I actually think that the timing of it (just before the holiday) played a role in me hearing back so quickly. At the time I was so preoccupied with schoolwork that I didn’t really have time to think about it.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Originally published at alexandra bracken. You can comment here or there.

There had to be posting about SPN last night so I didn't get a chance to say, but I watched 4x02 of Friday Night Lights. ( I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH. )

Oh, show.

I signed up for Yuletide and have offered to write in 13 fandoms.

( SPN 5x08 )

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I am writing to you now because I love you all very much. And it is because I love you that I must share some advice, both from myself and from many of my friends who work in the children’s book industry, both as authors and on the publishing side. Recently, I’ve noticed that there are far, far more of you than there were just last year. I look forward to getting to know you all over the next few months and chatting about books and life and school and publishing. Welcome to a very wonderful and fun community!!

I have a really marvelous group of book blogger friends that I’ve gotten to know over the past year and a half (and I’ve been lucky enough to meet some of them in person). They’ve been at this a long time, and they’re names you would probably recognize. Coincidentally, they are also the ones that get attacked most frequently, either because others claim they hog all the ARCs or they’re stuck-up. This, as you’ll see, is not the case. They’ve spent years working hard to build relationships with marketing and publicity departments, and they very rarely make the mistakes I’ll list below. But I digress.

Dearest book bloggers, I am writing to you because I–and others–have been noticing some slightly disturbing trends as of late. This is really hard for me to do, because I know that it’s easy to be misunderstood when communicating through email, and because I do love and appreciate everything that you guys do for the author community. BUT… I have to get a few things off my chest.

Guys, let me start off by saying that it costs A LOT of money for publishers to produce ARCs. I asked some of my coworkers for a rough estimate of how much money it takes to produce one, and their guesses fell between $16-$20. When we’re about to acquire a project, we create what’s known as a Profit & Loss statement (P&L). It helps the publisher figure out how many copies to print, what kind of specs can go on the book jacket (shiny elements, matte, etc.), how many returns the book might see, how many we would have to sell to recoup the advance, etc. We generally factor in several thousand dollars to account for ARC printings. This is why many publishers have been reducing the number they’re printing (Did I mention that ARCs are often are put together by hand?) in these hard economic times. It is cheaper for a publisher to send out a finished copy of the book. Seriously. When you are sending an email and requesting 20 ARCs at once, I hope you will remember this.

Second: Guys, you are a very creative bunch. So what’s going on with everyone ripping everyone else off? It’s one thing to borrow certain routine posts (such as Kristi’s In My Mailbox Feature), but at least give one another credit. Also, I know web design is very hard, but there’s absolutely no justification for ripping others’ blog designs. (Likewise, there is no excuse for stealing/being “heavily inspired” by anyone’s website, including authors’. It is not fun to see your work and ideas on someone else’s blog with zero credit.) You all are unique and wonderful–let your design show that, and let your features reflect who you are as a person and reader. I think you’ll find that’s a great avenue for gaining more followers. Take Sharon Loves Books and Cats, for example. I LOVE Sharon (as do many authors), not only because she’s honest with her reviews, but because she loves books and cats! I can barely say her name without saying, “Sharon, who loves books and cats.” Clearly Sharon is more than her love for books and cats, but it’s so unique and endearing and it keeps me coming back to her blog.

Thirdly, please don’t expect that we, as authors, have an unlimited supply of ARCs to pass out, or that we can snap our fingers and have them to you within a month. Publishing is a very slow business, full of people who are often overworked and cannot get to everything at once. Please be patient! We all want to get these books into your hands, but it might take a while…

Fourthly, it is a bad idea to copy and paste the same ARC requests to multiple authors. It is especially bad when you request the wrong book from the wrong author.

Here are a few points from one of my industry friends. Again, I’m sharing this because I feel like this is good information and great advice. It’s not meant to be a personal attack or any such thing.

1. Know your blog – Install Google Analytics on your blog and track how many page views, unique visits, and comments you get. Compare them with your blogging friends. This should tell you just how many people your blog is reaching. If it’s not that many, you cannot expect publicists and online marketing folks to send you as many free books as you want. Just like in print publicity, there is a heirarchy of importance that is determined by audience size or perceived prestige, which often has something to do with the quality of material you offer and how long you’ve been around. If you want to become a more prestigious blogger, blog well and often, participate in the community, and WAIT. The most influential and respected book bloggers are the ones who have been doing it consistently and well for years. Until then, you cannot be demanding things from people whose job it is to use expensive assets (i.e. ARCs) to increase sales of a product whose profit margins are already small.

2. Be professional – As was previously stated, ARCs are not free to the publishers. They are a business asset whose entire point is to increase sales of a book. They are expensive to produce, in short supply sometimes, and useless post-pub, so publicists and online marketing folks have to use them in the best way possible. If you would like to review them, you must appear professional and trustworthy. Send short, courteous emails that explain clearly what you would like and what you will do with them. Make sure your emails show the quality of your writing. DO NOT send the same copy/paste email over and over again, we notice things like that. The font should be readable, both in type and color. This is a business relationship, not a personal one. If you post about a book you are sent for review, you should always send an email with a link to whomever sent you that book. It’s just polite.

3. Be understanding – There are varying amounts of ARCs depending on the perceived in house need. A book that the house determines needs advanced buzz or will be very popular will probably get lots of ARCs printed; a book so huge that it doesn’t need buzz will get zero (like the later Twilight books). Some books don’t have ARCs at all because the manuscript came in too late for them to be printed. Some don’t have a lot because the book isn’t a high priority for the house. There are a million reasons why a publicist might not be able–or want–to send you an ARC. You’re not entitled to anything by virtue of having a blog. You prove yourself a reliable blogger every time you communicate with a publicist, so if you treat them like Amazon, if you are demanding and entitled, you will damage your relationship with that publicist. I’m sure this goes for authors as well.

4. Be NICE – If you don’t get a response from an email you wrote to a publicist, or you don’t get a book you requested, don’t write a rude or testy email about it. People in publishing work REALLY HARD. There is no downtime, and if we do mailings it happens after hours a lot of the times. If you get a book from a publisher, it is likely someone stayed very late in order to send it to you. So even if you were promised the book, know that it can take weeks for a someone to find the time to send things–don’t check in about ARCs you requested until a month after you sent the original email. If you KNOW it was sent out (as in, the publicist said, “I sent it today”), then you might alert them that you hadn’t received it if you genuinely thought it had been lost in the mail. But, again, politely.

5. Support the industry – BUY BOOKS. You should be buying more books or taking them out of the library than you receive for review, if you really love books so much. SHARE ARCS.

On that last note, there’s a great program that Harmony Book Reviews set up called the One Arc Tour. Check it out–it’s a great idea!

Again, I love you guys greatly (as we all do), and I hope you’ll take some of this advice to heart. If you’d like to leave me a comment feel free, or you can send me an email if you have questions about publishing or thoughts you don’t want to share publicly.

Originally published at alexandra bracken. You can comment here or there.

*It's a day and a bunch of flailing later and I'm still annoyed about this. I totally get that if a canon text becomes unhappy for people, it's easier to enjoy it if you detach emotionally from it, and that if fans didn't care so much about a show, they wouldn't bother criticizing. And please, this is in no way me complaining about negative critique of Supernatural. Whatever floats your boat (or doesn't). What I don't get is this viewpoint that doesn't just stop at a particular fan saying they personally need to employ the thinky off switch to enjoy SPN, but that the fans who are liking it must be watching with their brains (and hearts) turned off. What, because the fans who are enjoying it and are moved by what's going on and give it a thumbs up despite the problems aren't thinking about the characters? Because that's the only way SPN could possibly still work? Seriously? (The show has had clunky writing and massive plot holes you could drive the Impala through since season one).

This is a really old debate in fandom, and a really old misconception, that True Fans will be disgruntled and Casual Fans will be happy. I'll just file that down here, right next to that thing about how critical fans are Bad Fans who don't love the show the way it deserves to be loved.

*Now that I've ranted, have an adorable picture of baby mongooses. (Apparently, the plural is mongooses, not mongeese. Noted!)

*Speaking of being gruntled and disgruntled with SPN, okay, I might have been a little bit bad and clicked on the rest of the promo images released this week. *flees in shame* Mood spoilers and an image behind the cut, for something completely unrelated to Castiel.

( SPOILERS along with me having a small nervous breakdown )

The 20th Anniversary edition of Say Anything was released on Tuesday. Here's an article about the making of the boom box scene, and I totally missed it but apparently there was deployment of a herd of Lloyd Doblers in my city yesterday, with boom boxes held high.

20th anniversary edition. Now I feel OLD.

I'm also kind of going O.o at this, there's apparently going to be a hotel type thingie. In space.

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So many suggestions to do a ten minute yoga set! Alas, I have never done Yoga before, so it’s something I’ll have to investigate. Any good recommendations for online resources/books? A good Youtube series?

Today started off with someone pushing their way off the subway train and throwing up the cereal he ate for breakfast near my feet. So, onward to better things:

Since October’s playlist seemed to go over well, here’s what I’m listening to for November. There’s sort of a soft/country vibe going on in my iPod lately–my way of getting myself to chill out. I’m not really a big country fan (at least not in the way my sister and a few friends are), but I’ve always really appreciated that country music is rooted in storytelling, and that lends itself to a kind of traditional American identity. The first song on it is by the divine Patty Griffin, and one of my favorites.

Speaking of favorites, Emma Thompson said that she’s going to take her name off the petition to free Roman Polanski. Thank goodness, because I thought my head was going to implode from the crazy of it all. One of the interesting things to note is her mention of peer pressure from other actors and friends–I have a feeling this is probably true for many of the people who signed the petition, and if not… well, that sucks.

I know people were initially P.O.ed at the thought of another remake (By the way, why is it that all movies these days have to be pre-tested so that everything is a sequel or remake?), the new Clash of the Titans posters look, for a better phrase, BAD ASS. I can already hear my dad chanting “BLU RAY! BLU RAY! BLU RAY!” in the distance.

Happy One Year Anniversary, Obama!

Now get back to work!

And with that, I’m off. Have a good one

Originally published at alexandra bracken. You can comment here or there.

Sometimes you burn with righteous fury. And sometimes you just smart with white hot frustration. And it's at times like these that you're not even shouting with a rifle in your hand doing your best "Do You Hear The People Sing?"; you're merely rolling your eyes and kicking over a chair to "The Bitch of Living."

For Gods' sakes, people. Shit like this going down after all the progress we've fought for... is how apathy is born.

What the hell, America? Seriously. What the hell, with a side of who cares? Who fucking cares? Just mind your own business and let me have mine.



Get a fucking life, will ya?

+Had my SPN fandom zen harshed today. Not my squee, my zen. You have all been saved by Misha Collins and the CW promo department from a pointless rant from me that wouldn't change a deep-seeded and annoying fandom mindset anyway.

+Kumquat, anyone?

+Here, have a snuggly picture of a kitten.

+partly has a thought-provoking and wonderfully written post appreciating how Supernatural portrays the link between knowledge and free will.

+( these behind the scenes pictures of Castiel + another character may be relevant to your interests, if not, just ignore. SPOILERS for an upcoming episode. Did we mention SPOILERS? )

+Okay, I'm back. Hi!

+Have seen the first episode of Psych. It is very cute! Hopefully the show will take with me, because I can see how this could be a lot of fun to watch and be fandom-y over.

So as you may have noticed U2 is touring. Actually I've now seen them twice this year (though only one actual U2 concert). Pretty up close too.

Anyway, U2 are coming back to NYNJ at the new Meadowlands stadium July 2010 (the 19th to be specific). I am currently the proud (and wincing) owner of 4 tickets relatively close to the stage. Specifically section 211, row 8. This the second tier of seats, close to the stage on the side. Side Adam to be specific. Hence my icon is extra appropriate. Also they may be the front row of that section, at least that's what the site told mclittlebitch when she bought them for me.

All of that may be Greek to you, but basically I have one extra ticket to see U2 if anyone would like to join myself, mclittlebitch and dotsomething next July. The ticket is $270 (yeah, 4 of those to my bank account ooooouch), but as I pointed out to dotsomething, think of it as $30/month for every month till the concert.

So if anyone here is interested in coming with us, let me know. It should be good times, especially since this time we will have the freedom to sit, go to the bathroom and eat hot dogs to our hearts content.