Tunnel Tour Wrap-Up!

GUYS. WHAT A CRAZY SIX MONTHS THAT WAS.

The official stops of the Tunnel Tour are over! It's time to take a breath, relax a little bit, and look back at the awesomeness. And thank you, all of you who were such a big part of it.

Since January, I have:

--Had 18 (18!!) major events at bookstores or schools. I truly did cross the country, with events in: Butte, Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles, Santee, San Diego, Pasadena, Salt Lake City, Denver, Berkeley, Virginia, Nebraska, Portland, Missoula, St. Louis, Boston, and New York. WHEW. What did I discover? I love doing events. I KNOW. It's something I never would've guessed going in, but meeting booksellers and fellow authors and readers, and chatting with everybody and telling stories? Second only to the actual writing. Thank you so much to the bookstores, and those hard-working booksellers and customer service reps who helped organize this and ran them flawlessly.

--I got to hang out with 44 other authors!! Well, even more than that, because many of you fabulous people came who weren't actually on the panels. But I did events with 44 other kidlit authors, debuts and long-timers, my people to a one. THANK YOU, other authors, for sharing your stories with me.

--I did my first podcast, and 2 radio interviews, one with the renowned Cherie Newman of NPR's THE WRITE QUESTION. Oh my god, that was so much fun. You can listen to it all if you want to! http://www.susanadrian.net/mediaskype-visits/

--I did 4 school events, and would love to do more of these! The Best when you're actually talking to kids, and you SEE them get excited about stories and reading.

--I did blog interviews, all over, and I am so grateful to the bloggers who read and feature our books, and reach out to authors and spread the word. Thank you.

There are a lot of thank yous up there, right? That's the most important bit of this post, because none of this, this little "friend tour" dream I had the summer before publication, would've worked without the support of all the bookstores and authors and friends and readers. It would've been me, sitting alone clutching my book. Instead it was this:

And I loved every minute.

By the way, though the Tunnel Tour is done, I'm not going into hiding! I'll be at the Missoula Book Festival September 10-12, and the Montana SCBWI intensive September 18....

Thankful Tuesday: Readers

When I was struggling...for fifteen years, struggling...to get a book published, my husband would sometimes challenge me.  "Why are you doing this?" he would ask, always logical. "What is your goal?"

I'd sniff, and waffle around for a while: 'to get a big 5 contract' 'to see my book in stores', all sorts of things. But when it came down to it, I always ended at the same, deep goal: "I want other people to read and enjoy one of my stories."

That's it, in the end. I wanted people to read my stories. 

Fast forward to now, 3 months out from the release of my first book. It's easy--soooo easy--to get caught up in the stress of it: getting another deal, worrying about sales numbers and store placement and comparing. Sometimes I fall prey to it like everyone else. But when I do, I have a very simple strategy for overcoming the stress.

I go and look at Worldcat, and I see that my book, a story I wrote all from my own head, is in libraries. All across the country, across the world. Not only that--it's checked out, in lots of places. Hundreds of copies are checked out right now. It's in people's hands. And you know what that means?

People are reading my story. No matter the rest of it, no matter how many bookstores it's in or who bought it today, someone, somewhere, is probably reading it right now. That was my goal, my dream, and that is real now.

So I want to thank you, the most important people in this equation: the readers. Especially thank you to the ones who blog and review on Goodreads and Amazon and all that, who recommend and share with other people. I am so grateful to you for spreading the word. Thank you to the excited readers I've met at signings, to the ones who email their love. But also thank you to the kid who checked it out from the library yesterday, who's curled up with it on their couch tonight, who's sneak-reading it when they should be doing chores or homework. Even if you quietly close it at the end and smile, and never tell anyone.

Thank you for making my dream come true.

Announcement: YA SCAVENGER HUNT!

Hello Everyone!

I’m so happy to announce that I'm participating in the Spring 2015 YA Scavenger Hunt!

We have eight outstanding teams this season. I am going to be a part of #TeamGreen! The Scavenger Hunt runs from April 2nd through April 5th beginning and ending at noon Pacific time on those days. 

If you’ve never been a part of the hunt before you should give it a try. It's my first time! It runs like a giant blog hop, introducing you to new YA authors and books along the way. There are tons of prizes including a grand prize for each team. If you win one of the grand prizes you will get a book from each author on that team! For more information and to make sure you get hunt updates, sign up for news on the #YASH website. 

And...I will be hiding an exclusive never-before-revealed deleted scene from TUNNEL VISION. :) You don’t want to miss out on this fabulous and fun event, but play fast because the hunt is only live for three days.

Here's my team! 

I hope you are all as excited as I am!

THE HUNT BEGINS 4/2/15!

Thankful Tuesday: Fellow Authors

I honestly couldn't do this--any of this, any one day of this--without the support of all the wonderful other authors I've met along this journey.

Example A: The Tunnel Tour. If you go to the event page and look at the pictures on the right? I'm touring with (or planning on touring with) 25 other authors. TWENTY-FIVE very busy people who agreed to come and spend their valuable time and energy at a bookstore or library helping to support me and TUNNEL VISION. (And yes, fortunately they have fun and get publicity and sales out of it too, I HOPE!) They're amazing, all of them. This is not even counting all the authors who tweet/FB events, and come and hang out and talk and give me advice and are generally lovely.

Example B: The big example: my acknowledgments in TUNNEL VISION!

I know it's huge. I KNOW IT. Look at that amazing list of people. And I still forgot some, didn't have room for all, and have met new writer friends since!

I'll let that list stand, though, because it says what I need to say.

Thank you, writers. You cheer each other, root for each other, console each other, and make it so we can all do this crazy thing together. THANK YOU.

Love,

Susan

Thankful Tuesday: Bookstores

I spent much of the past week traveling for the TunnelTour, and most of that in bookstores. 

I am so, so grateful for bookstores. I love ebooks too, in a different way, but there is just SOMETHING special about walking into a real, live space dedicated to books, running your hand over the lovelies on the shelf, cracking one open to browse, and just looking at all the joy and adventure there waiting for you. (It also might have something to do with the fact that my husband and I both spent years managing bookstores, and that's where we met--they're important.)

Bookstore people are wonderful, too. Over the past couple weeks I have been tremendously grateful to the bookstores and bookstore people who have carried my book, welcomed me with open arms, ordered it or brought it out for me to sign when I stopped by, or are working with me on an event. I have to do a shout-out to all of you. And to the bookstores who aren't on this list (yet), thank you to you too!! I wish I could visit all of you.

THANK YOU to:

Butte, Montana:
Books & Books: They are handling signed, personalized copies for me. If you want a signed copy and you're not near any of the other areas, contact them (booksbutte@booksbutte.com, 1-800-273-9520)
Hastings: The Butte Hastings generously brought books to my launch party to sell, and are hosting a hometown signing for me this Saturday (February 7) from 2-5 pm. They've been wonderful!

Houston, Texas:
Barnes & Noble Champions Village: This B&N hosted my Houston signing with Joy Preble, Mary Lindsey, and Becky Wallace, and were so kind and enthusiastic. They have several signed copies in stock!
Barnes & Noble Westheimer: They have 1 signed copy!
Barnes & Noble Town & Country: They have 1 signed copy!
Blue Willow Bookshop: This is a fabulous indie that couldn't host this time, but are really fantastic. I left 3 signed copies with them!

Seattle, Washington:
University Bookstore: Can't say enough about how welcoming and supportive they were for my signing with Lish McBride and Kendare Blake. I signed 20 copies for stock, and they will ship them for free!
The Elliott Bay Book Company: They were sold out when I stopped by, but they have it back in now!
Seattle Mystery Bookshop: I was so excited to discover this place!

San Diego, California:
Mysterious Galaxy: This great bookstore--I used to go browse there when I lived in San Diego--is hosting the TunnelTour San Diego stop on February 17th, with Kiersten White, Stephanie Diaz, Shannon Messenger, and Maggie Hall. Can't wait!

Pasadena, California:
Vroman's Bookstore: Vroman's is hosting the L.A. TunnelTour March 12th, with Gretchen McNeil, Livia Blackburne, and Mary McCoy!

Salt Lake City, Utah:
The King's English: Hosting my March 20th event with Courtney Alameda, Jenn Johansson, and Valynne Maetani!

Denver, Colorado:
The Tattered Cover: This event was just confirmed! March 21st at 2 pm, with NK Traver!

Berkeley, California:
Mrs. Dalloway's Literary and Garden Arts: Hosting the Bay Area TunnelTour stop on March 24th, with Stacey Lee and Whitney Miller and...moderated by S.J. Kincaid!

That's it for now, but I will definitely be updating my thankful-to list of bookstores as I continue to travel around and add events. A huge thank you to all of these great stores!

Thankful Tuesday

HI ALL!

It's been a week since TUNNEL VISION released, and wow! What a ride! I had a successful, amazingly fun launch party with my hometown crowd, family and friends. I got to have the first stop of the Tunnel Tour in Houston, with the fabulous Becky Wallace, Joy Preble, and Mary Lindsey. And I saw such a wonderful outpouring of support from friends and readers online. THANK YOU!!

Today I want to start a (hopefully) (at least for a while) weekly series on people or places or things I'm thankful for, and today's shout-out is to LIBRARIES. One of the highlights this week has been peeking at WorldCat and seeing all the far-flung, big and small libraries my book has made it to, seeing it on the "holds" shelf, dancing when I see it checked out. THANK YOU to all the libraries who ordered TUNNEL VISION, who work to get books into the hands of teens and all kinds of readers every day. Here's a call-out to a few of the libraries I saw on that list, randomly chosen! But thank you ALL.

--Eagle Valley Public Library, Eagle, Colorado
--McConnell Air Force Base Library, McConnell AFB, Kansas
--Plano Public Library, Plano, Texas
--Santa Monica Public Library, Santa Monica, California
--Glen Ellyn Public Library, Glen Ellyn, Illinois
--Mishawaka Penn Harris Public Library, Mishawaka, Indiana
--Boca Raton Public Library, Boca Raton, Florida
--Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn, New York
--Minuteman Library Network, Natick, Massachussetts
--Horowhenua Library Trust, Levin, New Zealand

Don't forget libraries when you're looking for books! And support your local library!

Hi all!

Getting CLOSE now. One week until TUNNEL VISION is out!

In the meantime, a couple things to get you ready for January 20th:

1. RELEASE DAY CHUCKS!                          

 
2. BLOG TOUR! TUNNEL VISION is going traveling. There will be reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways. Get ready to check out these fabulous sites next week:

Date	Blog
Tuesday, January 20th	Fiktshun
Wednesday, January 21st	A Dream Within A Dream
Thursday, January 22nd	Books, Bones & Buffy
Friday, January 23rd	The Young Folks
Saturday, January 24th	Dani’s Book Nirvana
Sunday, January 25th	Lit Bites
Monday, January 26th	Unbound Books
Tuesday, January 27th	Jessabella Reads
Wednesday, January 28th	Word Spelunker
Thursday, January 29th	Journey Through Fiction
Friday, January 30th	The Write Path
Saturday, January 31st	Bibliophilia, Please
Sunday, February 1st	Lindsay Cummings Books
Monday, February 2nd	My Guilty Obsession