Tuesday, August 28, 2012

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME POPCORN WITH THIS UPDATE?

Okay.  So.

I've kept a secret from you. My adult sci-fi romance, DEGREES OF WRONG, released today. It's by Anna Scarlett. Anna Scarlett is me. You can check it out here. If you liked the snark and romance of OF POSEIDON, and don't mind your characters in their 20s, you'll probably love DoW.
***END SHAMELESS SELF PROMO***

For those of you wondering, my YA publisher, Feiwel and Friends, requested that I use a pen name for any adult works, so that my adult identity and YA identity are distinguished from one another. What do you think about this, hmmm? I've been getting mixed responses on the subject.

Also, book tour is OVAH! And it was...supercalifragilisticexpealidocious. If you think you're nervous to meet an author, just know that we're nervous to meet you too. Unless of course, you're high on Benadryl, like I was the entire tour. Then you're not so nervous as you are obnoxious, insane, and...charming? Hopefully?

Along those lines, I apologize in advance to all of you who are attending Austin Teen Book Fest this year, because I will be there and there is a fantastic chance I will be misbehaving as usual.

For all my writer friends, here is a juicy tidbit of advice: YES the second novel is harder to write than the first. If writing the first was like giving birth, writing the second is like giving birth to a litter of adult porcupines. I'm in editing with Of Triton now, and thankfully, the edits are minimal. But. Holy. Crap. It was harder to write. I didn't want to turn it in. I was convinced it sucked. I pushed it until deadline, in fact.

Which leads me to this point for my writer friends: When you get published, you may not want to read your reviews. Sure, you won't be able to stop yourself when the ARCs come out. But for all the great ones, there WILL BE NEGATIVE ONES. Absurdly evil ones, even. You need to decide now if this will affect you as a writer. And if it will, don't read them.

Because it affected me. I didn't WANT to write the sequel. I was convinced I couldn't do anything right. I began to doubt myself as a writer, and I didn't exactly have the confidence to spare in the first place. I began to think that my getting an agent/book deal/book tour was a freaking fluke. Yes, a freaking one. No matter how much everyone else loved it, if I came across a negative review, it hit me hard for a long time.

Which is why, even after you land an agent and a book deal, you still need to prep yourself for rejection. A writer's life is full of it, no matter who you are. Get used to it.

And keep going!

15 comments:

  1. I love you! Being it Banks or Scarlett!

    I get why your YA publisher might want to request it, BUT it's hard to keep such things a secret these days anyway. I mean, a few years ago with no twitter and facebook and in general much less internet It would have made sense. Now? Not so much anymore ..


    I am so so so heartbroken to hear some of those negative reviews affected you so much. And, although I am not a writer I get where that comes from and even me telling you 1000 times - don't let this get to you, it will!

    Whenever you read a bad review, go and read two 5 Stars reviews and I bet you feel better and forget about the negative one :))

    *hugs*

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  2. I honestly don't like it when authors have an adult and YA pen name. I like looking at one name on a book search engine and seeing the whole list of books they have written. Richelle Mead does just fine with YA and adult genres and keeping the same name. But you adult pen last name is pretty awesome though, good name choice. I put it on my wishlist to get. I love reading both YA and adult.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm using two names, one for YA and one for adult, and like you it was at the request of my publishers. It's a total pain in the a$$, but I see the point.

    One of the reasons I like it is for the negative reviews. When you get a bad one it is only associated to that one book/genre, not you as a whole. Not that that makes getting them any easier...

    The real problem is that for one of my names I choose my husband's first name as my last name, so when he comes to signings and events, he has to take a pseudo-name too! No way I could introduce him as Scott Scott. :D

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  4. Thanks Danny! I know I shouldn't let them affect me, BUT I saw on Twitter where you were upset that someone found your review "unhelpful". Or something. So now reviews are being reviewed? When will it end, lol?

    Hey Kristina, I know right? I know some of my YA fans would love DoW, but I don't feel comfortable approaching them as Anna Scarlett because they only know me as Anna Banks. SO frustrating!

    Marian--how adorable that you picked your hubby's first name as your last! That's commitment, lol! Did you ask your publisher their preference, or did they bring it up first?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would just like to say that I really enjoyed Of Poseidon and I cannot wait for Of Triton! Thank you for writing such wonderful work and not listening to the idiots of the world who insist on being negative to bring the best people down (is calling someone an idiot negative?...oops 0.0) I absolutely LOVE your writing style! Rayna and Toraf had me laughing so hard, I very nearly fell out of my bed. Galen and Emma are an awesome couple as well>.<killing me sweetly with their hilarious awkward moments or Emma using her face to stop a cafeteria door(I died! I swear I was laughing for a week on that one!) Is the sequel going to continue with both their POV's(brilliant how you did this by the way)?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anna, such awesome advice for authors, both in kicking out that second book (you're right, HARD stuff, especially if your like me and didn't know which proposal they would pick...LOL) and in the review arena. Now that my ARCs are out and I'm on netgalley, I've already given teh reins to a few of my closes freinds to sort through my reviews. I'm only looking at the positive ones, because YES. Like you, it will totally freeze me up.

    Congrats on DEGREES OF WRONG!!! You know I love that cover! I still have to read your YA, which I will the second I'm out from under my 2nd book deadline. TAke care, and great to see what's going on!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I just finished reading Of Poseidon. Holy Smokes! I couldn't put it down, so I read it while my daughter was shopping. Cannot Wait till the next one. Thanks for a great read.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Please finish the second book!!! I started and finished the book today because of how awesomly awesome it was! Ignore what people say becasue, obviously, their always wrong. My mom told me I should stop reading, but, being the speed reader, had to finish this book! The ending was so mysterious! I would have never expected that! Way to change it up!!! ~Gray

    ReplyDelete
  9. I just finished Of Posidon and immediately jumped online to look for the sequel. When does it come out? WHEN??!!

    If you do happen to get hung up on negative reviews again, just stop by the reviews of your favorite bestseller. Bet they have more negative reviews than you do! ;) #hatersgottahate

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh my god dont think like that i cant wait for the next book to come out!!!!!!! you are the best writter ever and i love your work!!!:)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey Anna! First of all I'm going to say the exact same thing as anyone who has read Of Poseidon.. IT WAS FREAKING AMAZING!!! I read it in a day which was really hard while working a fulltime job.. anyway its not about me but about you. You have an amazing writing style! it was funny but I could still connect with each character.. LOVE, LOVE, LOVED IT!!! I can not wait to to read the next one :) I have just bought DoW after finding out that's it yours and can't wait to get off the web and reading it.. Good Luck with finishing Of Triton!! I'm so excited for May next year... that is when its coming out right?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Seriously I CANNOT wait for Of Triton!!! I ABSOLUTLY LOVED Of Poseidon!!!!! Usually I can't reread books until like a month after reading it the first time but with Of Poseidon I was rereading it within an hour!! It was just sooooo great!!!!! <3

    P.S. Yes my real name is Emma M.

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  13. I honestly don't like it when authors have an adult and YA pen name. I like looking at one name on a book search engine and seeing the whole list of books they have written.

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