Genre Fiction

While logging on to MySpace tonight, one celeb blogging alert caught my eye: MTV reality queen Lauren Conrad updated her status to say “New York Times Bestseller….Yay!!”

Wait. What? Lauren “L.C.” Conrad’s L.A. Candy is a New York Times best seller? Surely she jests.

Conrad’s blogging went on: “A big THANK YOU to everyone who bought my book!! It has been on the New York Times Best Seller List for 2 weeks and this week it’s #1….. YAY! This is such an honor!! I really appreciate everyone’s support and nice comments about the book. My next book should be released sometime in February and there will be another book tour. I will keep you all posted.”

I was in such disbelief that I simply had to go see for myself; I headed to scope out the current best sellers. I wonder which category hers is topping the charts in …

Hardback fiction? Nope, that’s Swimsuit by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.

Trade fiction? No, that’s Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, and mass-market fiction is Hidden Currents by Christine Feehan.

Conrad’s book also wasn’t to be found on the nonfiction, advice, or children’s lists. In fact, L.A. Candy wasn’t even in the top five of any of these categories.

After much digging around on the New York Times’ site, I finally found the book listed somewhere - Children’s chapter books - and yes, it was in the number one position.

Well, Lauren, I suppose congrats and apologies (for my continued total disbelief) are in order. And after reading your MySpace messages, I also must commend your editor, who probably had to delete many an exclamation mark.

As previously announced, Lauren “LC” Conrad of MTV faux reality shows including The Hills has written and released L.A. Candy, the first teen novel in the three-part series contract that she received with Harper Collins Publishers. All joking aside … well, okay, not all joking because come on, “LC” an author? Really? … but anyways, apparently it’s an entertaining book, according to the Fug Girls. Quality literature? No. Cheesy summer read? Not quite. But entertaining, yes.

The Girls ventured to the book store on the day L.A. Candy was released and quietly picked up a copy so that all of us curious about it, but too embarrassed to actually be seen buying the book, could learn all of the details. Get the gossip on Lauren’s writing ability, the obvious connections and allusions to her real life, and more over at the Fug Girls’ review on the Cut.

It has only been nine months since Harper Collins Publishers contracted Lauren “L.C.” Conrad, of MTV reality show fame, to write a three-part teen book series called L.A. Candy, and already the first book is upon us.

Conrad recently celebrated the upcoming June 16 release of L.A. Candy at the Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills with BFF and reality costar Lo Bosworth by her side.

According to Faded Youth Blog, the first installment “tells the story of Jane Roberts, a young beauty most notable for her sweet nature and innocence. She eventually packs up and moves to L.A. with her BFF from kindergarten, the gorgeous, smart–mouthed Scarlett. After only a few nights out on the town, the duo are swept up by a producer making a new reality show.”

About the overwhelming similarities between her real life and that of her story’s character, Conrad said that “some of the characters may symbolize people in my life, but it is in no way calling anyone out.”

As for the writing quality and actual content, Teen Vogue helps give a glimpse with the exclusive inside look.
Read an excerpt over at Teen Vogue.

If teens and kids are reading less now because of the popularity of the Internet, then perhaps a kick butt Web site all about authors, bestsellers, new releases, and more would help generate some more young readers. Let’s see what I can find …

* Random House publishing company hosts Teens @ Random where there are quizzes, author interviews, related videos, new noteworthy reads and old favorites, and social opportunities to make friends, pick fave books, and create a profile. This site has recently been making blogging headlines for welcoming author Judy Blume to chat and answer questions on a message board there. The layout and design of Teens @ Random is much more appealing than most reading sites, too.

* Harper Collins Publishers also has a teen-specific site, Harper Teen. There’s no Judy Blume, but there is plenty of reviews, author info, contests, and, of course, vampires.

* TeenReads.com includes all of the basics too: interviews, polls, reviews, book clubs, info about books being made into movies, and much more. This site tops the others on variety of content, but could use some help in the graphic design area.

* Teen Ink magazine covers all the regular book-related stuff in a well-designed, youthful way, but also features writing fun. While gathering inspiration from fave authors, teens can submit their own poems, short stories, and even artwork and photos for publishing. Education resources are available for those ready to go to college or interested in a summer writing program. It’s not just an online magazine either; Teen Ink can be read in print as well.

Find more links by clicking on the picture shown here.

The best-selling books of this week don’t look much different than the bestsellers of this time last year: Stephenie Meyer is dominating still, again, and more. With four out of four books from the Twilight sage not only being recognized on USA Today’s Top 150 Bestsellers for the week of April 26, 2009, but taking the top four spots we are certainly still living in the reigning era of vampire queen Meyer.

All of the books have hit the number one position at one time or another, but currently they fall in this order:

1. New Moon (2006, book 2)

2. Twilight (2005, book 1)

3. Eclipse (2007, book 3)

4. Breaking Dawn (2008, book 4)

If, like me, you’ve watched and loved the Twilight movie version but are unsure as to whether or not you are ready to dive into the books behind it, here’s a little teaser - the first few sentence of each book in the series:

Book 1: My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down.

Book 2: I was ninety-nine point nine percent sure that I was dreaming.

Book 3: (written as a handwritten note from Jacob, most of which is crossed out) Bella, I don’t know why you’re making Charlie carry notes to Billy like we’re in second grade, if I wanted to talk to you I would answer the …

Book 4: No one is staring at you, I promised myself.

The top ten out of USA’s top 250 are rounded out with the following six reads:

5. First Family by David Baldacci

6. Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark R. Levin

7. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey

8. The Shack by William P. Young

9. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown

10. Dark Summer by Iris Johansen

I spy with my reading eye a copycat book cover.

As seen on Totally Looks Like, a picture-based site in the I Can Has Cheezburger network that allows users to visually point out look-a-like celebrities, animals, products, and more, the recognizable apple-in-the-hands Twilight cover art is suspiciously similar to that of Words to Live By: A Guide for the Merely Christian by C. S. Lewis.

On the left is Lewis’s book, which was published in 2007. Stephenie Meyer’s book, on the right, was published in 2006. So who copied whom? With such close publication dates, it is very likely that neither saw the other until after the fact. But if it weren’t for Meyer’s coming out first, I’d blame Twilight for being a copy as the series’s creative doesn’t have the best track record for being original: designer Nina Ricci sued Twilight for duplicating her perfume bottle design.

A rare, first edition print of the first book in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series just sold for $19,120 in an auction at the Dallas, Texas, Heritage Auction Galleries.

The 223-page book, which was published in America under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, was one of only 200 soft cover copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. This copy included Rowling’s signature and was expected to sell for only about $12,000.

Harry Potter books have always been big sellers at auctions, with the largest sale to date being an 800-word prequel to the novel series that went for almost $50,000 at a writer’s group and dyslexia charity benefit.

You can get your own unsigned, not rare copy - that will still contain the same story between the covers - of the Sorcerer’s Stone for under $20 at any local bookstore.

Whether your kids are toddlers or teens they have a reading-related reason to celebrate next Friday, March 20.

For the older kids, Borders nationwide are hosting Twilight movie release parties, starting at 10 p.m. The night will include trivia, the Twilight movie awards (e.g. Best Bella-Edward Moment), a vampire-themed scavenger hunt around the store, and raffle prizes. Fans can get more info about the parties, as well as a voting ballot for the awards, online at Borders’ Twilight page.

If your kids - or your inner child - is too young for vampiric love stories, party in honor of Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar instead. This classic, award-winning, international best-selling children’s picture book celebrates its 40th anniversary on March 20. Since its publication in 1969, 29 million copies of the book have sold worldwide and it has been published in over 45 languages.

Whether you and your young readers prefer characters that drink blood or ones that eat fresh produce, there’s a reason to celebrate reading next weekend.

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) asked select teen readers to nominate their favorite books from 2008. Then, more than 8,000 teens voiced their opinion by voting. The results have been announced. The YALSA 2008 Teens’ Top Ten , as selected by readers age 12 to 18, are …

1. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
4. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
5. Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson
6. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
7. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
8. Extras by Scott Westerfeld
9. Before I Die by Jenny Downham
10. Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson

Other books that earned a nomination are:

Betrayed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Daemon Hall by Andrew Nance
Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks
Genesis Alpha by Runes Michaels
Glass by Ellen Hopkins
Ironside: A Modern Faery’s Tale by Holly Black
Jango by William Nicholson
Jinx by Meg Cabot
The Luxe by Anna Godberson
Penelope by Marilyn Kaye
Saving Zoë by Alyson Noël
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George
Tamar by Mal Peet
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

Mystery Writers of America (MWA), while in the midst of celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, announced its Nominees for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Awards. The awards will honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television and film published or produced in 2008 in categories including: novel, first novel by an author, original paperback, fact crime, biographical, young adult, play, script, and many more.

Here are a few of the fiction category nominees:

For Best Novel:

Missing by Karin Alvtegen
Blue Heaven by C.J. Box
Sins of the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno
The Price of Blood by Declan Hughes
The Night Following by Morag Joss
Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz

For Best First Novel by an American Author:

The Kind One by Tom Epperson
Sweetsmoke by David Fuller
The Foreigner by Francie Lin
Calumet City by Charlie Newton
A Cure for Night by Justin Peacock

For Best paperback Original:

The Prince of Bagram by Alex Carr
Money Shot by Christa Faust
Enemy Combatant by Ed Gaffney
China Lake by Meg Gardiner
The Cold Spot by Tom Piccirilli

For Best Young Adult:

Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
The Big Splash by Jack D. Ferraiolo
Paper Towns by John Green
Getting the Girl by Susan Juby
Torn to Pieces by Margo McDonnell

For a complete listing of the categories and nominees, check out the MWA’s official Edgar Awards Web site. The winners will be announced at the MWA’s 63rd Gala Banquet on April 30, in New York City.

Like many critics and readers, I assumed that the vampire novel trend was a bandwagon-style one. I thought that, after the success of Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse, other writers started researching the vampire afterlife. So when Kimberly Pauley, author of Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (Maybe), left a comment pointing out that she actually finished here book before Twilight was published, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to find out more about the behind-the-scenes workings of the book publishing world.

GenreFiction: Is this your first published book?

Kimberly Pauley: Yes, it is, though I have been “around” the industry for years since I’ve been a book reviewer since 1998. I’ve previously published short stories and poetry.

GF: How long before it was published did you finish writing “Sucks to Be Me”?

KP: Well, I finished it in 2005, sometime around the summer. Let’s just say around August to make it easy, since the book came out in August of 2008. So that’s 3 years. That’s fairly typical, especially for a first time author (though I know people who worked for over 10 years on something before it came out). I got the news it was being published in July of 2007, so the editorial revision / publication process itself took about a year.

GF: Which step of the novel process was most tedious?

KP: Definitely the submitting. You send to an agent or editor, you wait. You get rejected (hopefully nicely), you send it out again to an agent or editor, you wait. Repeat. Repeat again. In general, I didn’t do any simultaneous submissions (which is also common; you generally don’t or can’t). Some people respond in as little as a week. Others might take months (or even over a year).

GF: Did anything surprise you about the process?

KP: Not really. I’d done a lot of research up front and, as I mentioned before, I’ve been around the industry so I knew that it was going to take a long time. I’m actually very happy with how everything worked out. My editor was great…actually, everyone at the publisher has been awesome. They were wonderful to work with. I’m still learning about the business end of things, but so far, I’d have to say that it has been a really good experience.

GF: What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

KP: Have patience and write as often as you can!

Authors were hard at work pumping out new fiction last year, but some of them held their new releases just one more day to make their read a 2009 book. Strategy? Perhaps.

On January 1, 2009, these were some of the new books that hit shelves:

* Glitter Baby by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

* The Middle Place, a memoir by Kelly Corrigan.

* A double love story by the writing machine Debbie Macomber titled Married In Seattle: First Comes Marriage\Wanted: Perfect Partner.

* Secret Fantasy by Carly Phillips.

* At Grave’s End, book three in the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost.

* Final Justice: Sisterhood Series number five (The Sisterhood: Rules of the Game) by Fern Michaels.

* Agincourt: A Novel by Bernard Cornwell.

* The Witch’s Grave, number five in the Ophelia & Abby Mysteries by Shirley Damsgaard.

Other authors have books scheduled and ready to go later in the month of January, including:

* The Associate by John Grisham is set to come out on January 27.

* Also due out on the 27th is Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster, an historical biography by Alison Weir.

* On the 6th, Plum Spooky (A Between-the-Numbers Novel) by Janet Evanovich.

* Yet another teen vampire novel - Lord of Misrule, book five in the Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine - is scheduled for January 6.

* The 6th is also bringing one that caught my eye based solely on the number of authors: Mean Streets by Jim Butcher, Kat Richardson, Simon R. Green, and Thomas E. Sniegoski.

Find out more January releases and follow book releases month-by-month at the Amazon-affiliated New Release Books.

The New Years season makes for lots of top lists. I spent my 2008 mostly reading older books that I salvaged from used bookstores and library sale racks. Since I haven’t read most of the books released in 2008 that sparked my interest yet, here are top selections from around the Web.

* Amazon.com’s Best of 2008 named two top books of the year: Amazon editors named Philip Hensher’s The Northern Clemency, while customer orders dictated Breaking Dawn from Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.

* Voters at Good Reads pushed Breaking Dawn back to second place and instead selected The Host, another novel from Meyer.

* Barnes and Noble recognized Breaking Dawn as their bestselling book.

Seems several people agree that 2008 belonged to Stephenie Meyers. Regardless of which 2008 released book you would choose, or even if, like me, you’ve read neither of them, you have to admit it was a pretty good year for this teen fiction author. He works have soared to monumental fame, setting records as they go. And in November, her books inspired the big screen release of Twilight, the movie.

In 2008, she made dozens of best lists, including Time’s People Who Mattered, USA Today’s Author of the Year, and MSN’s Most Influential Women.

As for 2009? Meyer has plenty of plans for the new year. The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide, which will give further information on the world of the series, is set to release. The author has also said that she is almost done writing a possible sequel to The Host called The Soul. Several other ideas, projects, and works are filed away for her future, too.

Readers interested in discovering new authors - listen up! Borders has announced the nominees for their 2008 Original Voices Awards. Regardless of which first-time author wins the honor, all of these are worth checking out, according Borders employees.

In the fiction category:
* Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles
* The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
* The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
* The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
* The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
* The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

For the young adult reader:

* Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go by Dale Basye
* I Am Apache by Tanya Landman
* The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante
* Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
* Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff
* Wake by Lisa McMann

The other two categories are non-fiction and children’s picture books. The winner of each category, which will be announced in January, 2009, will receive $5,000 and will be featured in Borders stores nationwide.

Discover the non-fiction and children’s nominees by clicking … (more…)

In August, it was announced that the upcoming Harry Potter film - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - would be pushed back from its original intended release date of Thanksgiving weekend.

The film is now expected to hit theaters on July 17. This weekend, a trailer was released, and is available to watch on YouTube.

Click here to check out the sneak preview of the new Harry potter movie.

Twilight will be stepping its release date up to fill the space left by Potter for the teenage market on Thanksgiving weekend.