We’ll start with the exciting bit first. The lovely Ms. Tania L Ramos and the folks at Blackbird LSD run a website, which celebrates well-written books and the people who write them. Naturally, my book is nowhere to be found. Ha! Kidding, kidding. They were kind enough to slap Imminent Danger up on their site a few weeks ago, and to my delight, they’ve actually named it the Book of the Month for March 2013! Wooooo!
Another item of note, for anyone who lives in the vicinity of California: Blackbird LSD will be representing my book at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I will not be there in person, due to my living in the frozen wasteland that is southern Ontario, but they’ll have lots of Imminent Danger swag (bookmarks, stickers, books, etc.).
So if you’re in the LA area April 20-21, stop by booth 214 and claim your swag! Or, if you have a moral objection to the term ‘swag’, you can claim whatever you want — booty, plunder, spoils, etc. *insert pirate joke here*
In other news … some minor iUniverse silliness
I say “minor” because it isn’t a huge deal — more of a “Really, guys? Really?”
You all know about my struggles to get my book listed under the correct genre, right? I would have thought that, at some point, a proactive iUniverse employee might have put a note on my file mentioning that the book is actually “Young Adult”, and not “Children’s Lit”, despite what the unfortunate book category might say otherwise.
This is apparently not the case. I’ve recently been corresponding with the iUniverse Publishing Programs Department, who are going to get my book into Chapters for 8 weeks as per the publishing package I purchased. So the lady I was talking to whipped up a “sell sheet”, which basically has all the relevant information about Imminent Danger that she’ll send out to the local Chapters store in my area. Here’s a screencap of the top of the sheet she sent me for approval:
Time to play Spot the errors!
1. “Children’s” should be Young Adult or Teen.
2. “Juvenile” should be Young Adult or Teen.
3. Romance is fine, but Sci-Fi should really be first. Also, who ever heard of a romance book for children? Is that a thing?
4. Fantasy is just wrong — maybe stick Romance here instead?
On the plus side, they definitely got “Fiction” right. Three cheers for iUniverse! I shall inform them today of their amusingly incorrect first attempt, and advise them on how to actually make it accurate on their second go.
Update: The iUniverse lady was very prompt and professional, and said there was no problem changing the genre to Fiction / Teen / Sci-fi / Romance. So points to iUniverse for fixing this problem ASAP!
Unrelated media of the day:
I want to live here …
Michelle Proulx - Author 
Congrats and that iUniverse thing is funny. Also, why isn’t Oz on the map? Major points for Hyrule though.
Well, I didn’t make the map, so I can’t comment as to the Oz issue. I was alarmed by the inclusion of Panem, considering it’s not even from a fantasy book, lol.
I can only assume that it’s because the series is popular. There are some people I’ve met that don’t realize it’s future Earth. Though, I never read the books, so I could be wrong that it’s Earth.
I believe it’s supposed to be Earth — Panem is supposed to be the shattered remnants of what was once North America. I really wish Suzanne Collins had addressed what happened to the rest of the world, though. Surely North America wasn’t the only civilization to survive.
Maybe she’ll do another series that shows it. Though a lot of authors seems to be doing a single series in one world and walking away.
It’s possible that the rest of the world is fine and they stood back while North America collapsed. I know what I would do, but I’ve come to learn that I’m never right in guessing what will happen in a sequel or in other parts of a fantasy world.
I’m guessing the rest of the world is fine; or completely gone. Much like in my own series, nope, didn’t address that!
I’m still laughing over the “children” and “romance” part!
I bet you it’s a North Korea situation — the rest of the world is perfectly sane and functioning, and they just shake their head at Panem with their ridiculous practices and impose trade sanctions on them. 🙂
Well, it’s good that they’re getting your book into Chapters. Here’s hoping that it gets into the right section!
I’m definitely writing a Children’s Romance as soon as I get finished writing my Erotic Zombie fiction and and my “Know Your Bodily Fluids” pop-up book. O.o
Lol. Are you actually writing a Know Your Bodily Fluids pop-up book? If so, I need to read it, like, NOW.
Congratulations on the Writing Apocalypse feature. Your book looks great over there!
Thanks! I’m pretty pleased with the little display they’ve worked up 🙂
Congratulations! You must be so excited to see your “baby” doing so well!
Definitely 🙂
Congratulations, Michelle! What a great boost to have Imminent Danger as Book of the Month!! WOW 😀
I’m pretty psyched 😀
Romance for children! First thing I saw. Comedians working there or what? Apparently no one who can think for themselves.
Love the fantasy map. Sad to say I don’t know half of those.
I mean, technically Disney movies are romances, aren’t they? But they’re not really ROMANCE romance, more … fairy tale romance, which is totally different.
Maybe. But when we think Romance, we think Mills & Boon or Harlequin or whatever they’re called now, don’t we?
I ended the iUniverse feud of trying to get my category changed. I’m still: Fiction–> Adult –> Romance –> Fantasy/Futuristic. Well, suppose it defines at least one chapter. And by the way, your Book of the Month page is getting tons of RTs at Twitter. Thumbs up and love the bookmarks. They have a crazy, moist, ink smell to them, so I’ve left the box open instead of using candles for scent. Our house smells like a printing press and I love it!
Lol, well I’m glad you like the smell — I’d feel really bad if the bookmarks were stinking up your house in a bad way. Also, printrunner and I would need to have a serious talk. 😀
Your book is listed under Fantasy/Futuristic? Lol. Well, you did have that one scene with the alien bursting out of that man’s chest … oh wait, you DIDN’T. Silly iUniverse.
Yay for RTs!!! I still don’t completely understand Twitter, but I’m given to understand that RTs are a good thing 🙂
RTs are a good thing. It send the message out to all of the retweeters followers.
Congrats on your book being named Book of the Month. That is so exciting!
I also have difficulties with defining my genre. After years, I’ve narrowed it down to romantic fantasy, but I’m wondering if fantasy romance might get it more play. What do you think? In your experience, what genres get the most attention?
Love the map. Wish I could go there.
Thanks 🙂 I’m pretty psyched!
Hmm … well, it really depends on your story. If you put “romance” first in the genre listing, then the book needs to be a legitimate romance — e.g., all other plot points fall to the wayside in favour of the romance. Whereas if you put “fantasy” first, you can still have the romance, but you’re implying that the book isn’t JUST a romance — there’s also an actual plot beyond boy meets girl, they fall in love, something tears them apart, they get back together, the end. I would personally prefer a fantasy romance book, but then, romance books sell millions every year, so … look at your plot, and go from there? 🙂
I love this map. Hehee.
If only, if only 😀