YALC Readathon Guest Post: When authors meet other (more famous) authors by Holly Bourne

Hi guys! We're on day three of the readathon now and I hope that you're all making great progress with your TBR piles. If not, no worries! We still have another four days to go which includes a weekend so keep calm and read on!

Speaking of keeping calm my YALC Readathon guest today is the lovely Holly Bourne who is going to be talking about her experience meeting an author she admires and sharing some tips on how to keep your cool.

I'm going to be meeting some of my all-time favourite authors during YALC. It'll only be my third book signing and so some tips on how to not get too overwhelmed by it all could not be more welcome!

Here's Holly to talk about her experience including what it feels like to be on the other side of that signing table...

When authors meet other (more famous) authors by Holly Bourne 

I don't want to sound anti-social but... I find meeting readers scary. Like, really scary.

I LOVE it, but I also spend the build-up to any author event hyperventilating into a bag and sweating all over the floor.

There is SO much to worry about. In my case:
• Swearing
• Spelling someone's name wrong when signing a book
• Spelling my own name wrong when signing a book (this has happened three times)
• Not being 'nice' enough - if people have gone to all this trouble of meeting you, what if you're not the person they want you to be?
• Etc...etc...etc... thus all the sweat.

It never occurred to me that it's equally nerve-wracking to be on the other side - the reader side. That was, until, I got to meet one of my own writing heroes recently.

EAT PRAY LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert is a marmite book. If you love it, perhaps that's because it's like a heat-seeking missile that finds its way into your life exactly when you need it. When I was 24 and a miserable news reporter I picked up an old copy in an Oxfam shop and read it within a few days. It changed my life.

Within a month or two, I'd quit my job to go travelling, just like she did. While travelling, I stood on top of a mountain, feeling all deep and meaningful and a bit like Kevin Spacey at the end of American Beauty, and had a very profound thought I'll never forget:

"Holly, go home and write that book you've been thinking about writing."

Four years later, that book is on bookshelves. My life has changed considerably and for the better. Last month I got to meet the woman partly responsible for all that happening. Elizabeth Gilbert was coming to London to do a talk, and I got tickets to see and meet her.

Holly meeting Elizabeth Gilbert

It was so weird going through the process from the other side after only ever being on the 'author' side of these events and it came with its own set of anxieties:

• How early do you need to go to get a good seat?
• Whereabouts do you even sit? Isn't it too keen to go right at the front? But you ARE KEEN!
• Do I look too much like a crazy fan? Oh God, I'm at the front of the queue, I do!
• What the hell do I say to her? Do I tell her I'm a writer too? Or will that annoy her because I'm making it about me? Will I come across OK? Will she even remember me?
• Will it annoy her that my book is a secondhand copy?
• What if her talk is crap? What if I don't like her? Will that ruin the book for me?

It was oddly surreal when she walked into the room - suddenly I was sharing the same breathing space as the person who wrote those words. This person, who has no idea I exist or how her words and story have touched me, was now inhaling the same oxygen.

Of course, Elizabeth was WONDERFUL and her talk was everything I wanted it to be. Then for the really scary part, actually meeting her. WHAT DO YOU SAY?

For me, it all happened in a rushed blur. I blurted out: "Your book changed my life, and now I'm an author too. Thank you so much."

I waited for her to roll her eyes, or look at me as if I was bonkers, or both. Instead, she asked all sorts of questions: 'What's it called? What's it about?' And she looked pretty darn happy when I said her other book, COMMITTED, provided a lot of the research for SOULMATES. She finished by high-fiving me and saying 'ROCK ON.'

It's fair to say, my literary crush is now fully fledged. But despite the good vibes, I still left in a state of worry. Had I made a fool out of myself? Should I have said what I did? Should I have asked for a photo? Damnit! I should've asked for a photo! Did she enjoy meeting me? Will she remember me? Or do I just fade into the long line of fans?

That's when I remembered what it's like on the author side of the table, and how it feels to meet your readers. Here is the essence:

• The author is just as nervous as you are, I promise.
• If you love their book, TELL THEM. That is why they wrote the book - spending thousands of hours alone in their jimjams - for people like you to tell them they loved it. You won't sound gushing, or like a strange sad fan. To the contrary, you will be making their day/week/month/year.
• Please do write your name down beforehand so the author can see it and spell it correctly. A lengthy queue of Catherines and Katherines can easily produce some embarrassingly mis-signed books.
• But that should not suggest that we won't remember you. Anyone who has ever come up and chatted to me at a signing is etched on my memory forever in the section marked 'happy place'.

So, with all that in mind, my advice to anyone coming to YALC this year to see your favourite authors is this - don't panic, enjoy every moment, and make sure you take that photo if you want one!

 Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today Holly! I think I'm going to print these tips off and take them along to YALC with me!

 Holly will be appearing at YALC on Saturday 12th July

For news on Holly's new book The Manifesto on How to be Interesting check out my exclusive reveal post here. 

 Only just heard about the YALC Readathon? There's still time to sign up here.

YALC Readathon Guest Post: Katherine Woodfine talks YALC behind the scenes

Good morning readathoners! It's day one of the YALC Readathon and I hope that you're just as excited as I am to read some amazing books this week!

Throughout the readathon myself and my co-hosts Carly, Vicky and Michelle will be sharing guest posts from the YALC authors but today to kick the readathon off I have a very special guest post from Katherine Woodfine who works at Booktrust and is part of the team putting YALC together. She's here today to talk about how YALC came about and to give us an insiders look at what it takes to organize such a big book event. Without further ado it's over to Katherine.

YALC: the story so far by Katherine Woodfine

I’m lucky enough to manage the Children’s Laureate programme at Booktrust – which currently, of course, means working with the fabulous 2013-2015 Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Malorie Blackman.

But if that alone wasn’t enough of a treat, I’m also currently organising Malorie’s major Laureate project – the UK’s first Young Adult Literature Convention! Today I’m here to tell you the inside story of YALC, and how the event came about.

When Malorie was appointed as Laureate in June 2013, one of the key things she wanted to do was ‘make reading irresistible’ to young people. With research showing that only 3 in 10 young people read daily out of class, and a fifth of young people saying they’d be embarrassed if a friend saw them reading, she knew she wanted to change perceptions and get ‘more young people reading more’ – but how?

As it happened, the UK’s Young Adult publishers had already been talking about an exciting new idea to put a spotlight on books for young people. Inspired by events in the USA, they wanted to hold the UK’s first YA Lit Con, and had even had some conversations with Showmasters (the organisation behind London Film and Comic Con) about hosting it – but they were short of someone to take the project forward.

As the first Laureate primarily known for writing for teens and young adults, Malorie was the perfect person to step in – and the Children’s Laureate team were on hand and ready to help make the event happen!

Our first job was to go along to LFCC and conduct some ‘research’. We went along for the day with Malorie and had a brilliant time – celebrity spotting in the Green Room, admiring the incredible outfits, and Malorie even had her photo taken in the Iron Throne. We all loved it and knew that LFCC would be the perfect home for the event, where books could sit alongside films, TV and comics.

So far, so good. But to get an event as ambitious of YALC off the ground, we knew we would need a lot of help. Enter the Young Adult publishers – as well as getting lots of advice from them, we also recruited a fantastic YALC Committee of publisher enthusiasts to help us with all the planning. Our brilliant Children’s Laureate PR agency Riot Communications came on board, and Laureate sponsors Waterstones confirmed they would be able to provide a bookshop for the event. We were also delighted to be able to secure additional support for YALC from Prudential Plc, as well as the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society.

We got the ball rolling by inviting all the UK’s YA publishers to suggest topics and authors, and then we started work with Malorie to put the programme together. This was the really hard part - there were so many brilliant ideas and fantastic authors put forward that we could easily have planned a whole week of events, never mind just a weekend!

We announced plans for YALC at the Winter 2013 LFCC, with a special event with Malorie and three other YA authors - Anthony McGowan, Lucy Christopher and Meg Rosoff. The event was great, but it was even more exciting to see the explosion of excitement about YALC from authors, bloggers and readers.

Several months, many meetings, and an insane number of emails and spreadsheets later, we’re now (whisper it…) just a few weeks away from YALC itself!

Our full schedule for the event has been revealed, including 50 amazing authors and a host of industry experts. We have panel events covering everything from fantasy to horror to how to get published; workshop sessions where you can get tips on writing, creating comics, and even pitch your work to agents; and of course, book signings with all our participating authors. There will be lots of books to buy in our YALC bookshop provided by Waterstones – and of course there will be all kinds of other fun book activities and surprise goings-on to enjoy throughout the weekend!

We hope that YALC will offer something for everyone, from the chance to meet megastar authors to the opportunity to hear from new voices and discover exciting debuts. We want the event to be an amazing experience for all those who love books – but also a great way to show those who might not currently be keen readers just how exciting and inspiring YA books can be!

All you need to come along to YALC and join the fun is a pass to LFCC – find out more here. But if you can’t make it, don’t despair – we’ll be photographing, filming and live-tweeting throughout the event, and sharing as much as we can online. Follow us on Twitter @yalc_uk for all the latest news.

Planning the event has been a real learning curve – but one that we hope will conclude with an amazingly fun and memorable event for everyone, which will help create a buzz around reading for young people, and shine a spotlight on YA books.

 Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today Katherine! 

Only just heard about the readathon? No worries! There is still time to sign up here.

The #YALCReadathon Twitter Chat!

Eeekkk!!! The YALC Readathon is starting on Monday and I could NOT be more excited! I hope those of you who want to take part have signed up (gentle reminder: you do not have to be going to YALC to take part in the readathon) and if not signs ups are still open and will be throughout the readathon for any latecomers who want to join in.

We're a fairly low maintenance readathon, for us it's all about reading the books. There won't be any daily updates to link to, challenges or anything like that. But there will be some guest posts from YALC authors going up on myself, Carly, Vicky and Michelle's blogs throughout the week so make sure you check back for those.

We have also decided to run a Twitter chat which will be happening on Thursday 26th June at 7pm UK time and will run anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour long. This gives readathoners the opportunity to talk about the books they've been reading and their progress. There are also going to be YALC authors joining us to answer some questions so even if you don't fancy the readathon but are going to YALC you're more than welcome to join in the chat as we discuss the event.

The questions will be coming from me @Jessheartsbooks and the tag we're using is #YALCReadathon please use this when answering any questions and chatting to one another so that we can all follow the conversation.

I hope that you'll join us to talk books, YALC and to hear from some of your favourite authors!

If you'd like to find out more about the YALC Readathon please click here.

Guest Post: Sarah Alderson on Writing Romance Across the Genres

Hi guys! To celebrate the e-book publication date of Sarah Alderson's (writing as Mila Gray) steamy New Adult novel Come Back To Me I have Sarah joining me on the blog today to talk about writing romance. Sarah has wrote books in the Thriller, Paranormal and now New Adult genre but no matter what subject she tackles you can always expect a swoonworthy romance within the pages. If you've read a book by Sarah you'll know that she writes the best book boys and so today she's sharing where she gets her inspiration from and what a great romance means to her.

Writing Romance by Sarah Alderson 

Finding Inspiration 

There’s inspiration in everything. My biggest inspiration comes from characters in books and movies. I’m a total romantic. 

I fell in love with Han Solo when I was a kid - his cheekiness & rebel rouser ways made my seven year old heart beat faster. Then it was Nathaniel from Last of the Mohicans (I still sigh every time I hear the line ‘I will find you. Just stay alive no matter what occurs.’). In my teens it was Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then Noah from The Notebook. When I ran out, I started writing my own. 

I’ve also been lucky enough to date some amazing guys (and a few not so amazing) who have all ended up in my books in one way or another. My husband was the basis for Alex in Hunting Lila. 

What Makes a Great Romance? 

In my opinion a great romance is: 

- One with believable obstacles in the way, not ones that are clearly contrived for the purpose of a story. 

- One with fully rounded out characters with quirks and history. 

- Characters who complete each other - not in a Jerry Mcguire way - but in the sense that they both bring something to the relationship that helps the other one transform into a better person. 

- Not necessarily a happy ending (though I prefer that!) Some of the greatest romances have tragic endings: TFIOS, Romeo and Juliet, Wuthering Heights. 

 - A guy who isn’t an asshole! I’m so tired of reading about guys who are arrogant, controlling / violent / stalkery - it’s SO not attractive. And yet readers seem to lap it up. It confuses me. I’d like to see more authors writing about male characters who have integrity, respect women and use words instead of fists - isn’t that way sexier? 

- A slow build. It’s OK to make the chemistry sizzle from the off but no insta-love. Real love builds over time and grows from friendship. OUT OF CONTROL is set over just 36 hours in New York and the two leads only meet at the very beginning so there was no falling in love but there was intense emotion and they have fantastic chemistry. On the other hand in Hunting Lila, Lila’s been in love with Alex since she was five years old. There’s something gorgeous about a friendship that morphs into something more… :)

Come Back To Me is available to buy on Kindle as of today 

and in paperback on October 23rd 2014

Exclusive Reveal! The Manifesto on How to be Interesting by Holly Bourne‏

So if you've followed the blog for a while you'll know that I've been a huge supporter of Holly Bourne's since before the publication of her debut novel Soulmates and so it's such an honor today to be exclusively revealing the title, cover and synopsis for her upcoming book *drum roll...*

The Manifesto on How to be Interesting

I absolutely love this bright coral neon cover and sprayed edges! It's definetely going to catch eyes in bookshops! And here's the synopsis for the book which sounds just as fab as the cover!

The Manifesto on How to be Interesting is a fearlessly frank take on school cliques, crushes and fitting in.

Bree is a loser, a wannabe author who hides behind words. But when she’s told she needs to start living a life worth writing about, The Manifesto on How to be Interesting is born. Six steps on how to be interesting. Six steps that will see her infiltrate the popular set, fall in love with someone forbidden and make the biggest mistake of her life.

Sounds great, right? So I bet you're wondering when you can get your grabby hands, that I just know you're all making at the screen, on a copy. Good news! The publication date has been brought forward to 1st August 2014.

AND THAT'S NOT ALL! 

If you're a fan of Holly's then you probably already know that she'll be at YALC on Saturday 12th July and I'm excited to reveal that copies of The Manifesto on How to be Interesting will be joining her! The book will be on sale early so fans attending YALC will be the first people to be able to buy and read the book.

 Do let both myself and Holly know what you think either in the comments or on Twitter @Jessheartsbooks and @holly_bourneYA 

Find out more about Holly and her books on her website www.hollybourne.co.uk