Catherine Ryan Hyde Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of more than 25 published and forthcoming books, including the bestselling When I found You, Pay It Forward, Don't Let Me Go, and Take Me With You.
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Two incredible bloggers (and by that I mean they have great blogs and are great people, both), Adam of Roof Beam Reader and Lauren of Shooting Stars Mag, are holding a giveaway and a blog hop for bloggers.
According to the announcements on Adam's and Lauren's blog, these events are inspired by, and intended to celebrate the work of...me.
This kind of blows me away, to put it mildly. They are giving away prize packs, at least
Photo by Marco van Hylckama VliegAmazing how much I think of Pam—creator of the popular Bookalicious blog—as a friend, considering we’ve never met face to face. But we’re only three hours apart by car, so I expect this will happen eventually. Meanwhile, when I needed more exposure for my books, and Pam put together a scavenger hunt giveaway on four popular books blogs, that sure was being a good friend. (By the way, the link was just so you can see how cool it was. Sorry, the contest is over.) This to me is a great example of how helpful bloggers can be to authors, and why authors are wise to hold them in high regard and treat them with respect.
Hell, with a following like Pam’s, even a retweet on Twitter can be a great boon. Which is not to suggest that I only love bloggers for their retweets. More that I like the fact that those of us in the book business really can be a community and help each other out.
So. Pam. A few questions to help my readers get to know you better.
Me: Will you start by briefly explaining the difference between Bookalicio.us and Bookalicious.org?
My horse, Union RagsAnybody remember The Bet from last year? It started with my Twitter bud Brian Farrey musing on the Stephen King article in the Atlantic, in which King reveals that the short story "Herman Wouk is Still Alive" was written to satisfy a bet.
Apparently that's all you have to tell four crazy writers. Brian (With or Without You), Kimberly Pauley (Sucks to be Me), Andrew Smith (Stick, The Marbury Lens) and I went crazy and created The Bet, which shall heretofore (how's that for a fun word) be known as The Bet #1. We each chose a horse in the Kentucky Derby. For the purposes of The Bet, our horses were only running against each other, not the field as a whole. In other words, it didn't matter if my horse won. He won if he came in ahead of their horses.
Here we go again. I'm guessing this will not be getting tedious for my readers, as, if I'm going to keep repeating myself, the repetition should be something along the lines of, "I've got more free stuff for you."
The US ebook of my novel SECOND HAND HEART just went on a 5-day free promotion. (Sorry UK readers, UK editions belong to Transworld/Random House Group--love them, but can't give their stuff away.)
If you're in the US, just go get one. Easy. And everyone who wants one can have one.
But while we're at it, I want to do another $25 Amazon gift card giveaway for reviewers. This is fairly simple as well. Grab a free copy of the
Truth be told, I haven't been out in it much lately. I was home with my mom 24 hours a day for a while. And now I'm having a little trouble getting back on my feet, though I'm planning a couple of hiking getaways soon. I've had to completely rethink the schedule, as I now need to keep myself almost entirely to hikes that allow dogs. No more leaving Ella in the motorhome with my mom.
Anyway, while I was stuck indoors, I put together a second slideshow of some of my nature shots. The first "Beautiful World" slideshow had travel shots, including man-made sights. This one is nature-only.
If you're stuck inside today, here's a way to remember what a beautiful world we live in:
When I last blogged about the ebook edition of my novel WHEN I FOUND YOU, it was just about to go on a 5-day free promotion on Amazon.
I'm pleased to say that promotion went well. Amazingly well. I mean...you could have knocked me over with a feather. That well.
It hit #1 in Kindle Free, with over 81,000 copies downloaded. When the promotion ended, it climbed up to #12 in Kindle Paid. The combination of the free downloads and actual sales numbers created a “popularity” rating of #3 in the Kindle store as a whole, #5 on all of Amazon books. I was hovering between two Hunger Games books on the Kindle main page. It was a heady experience.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 people have downloaded the WHEN I FOUND YOU ebook.
My mom passed away on Wednesday the 21st. Just last week. Needless to say, it's been a very rough few days. But I wasn't planning to say much about the situation on my blog.
But today the obituary I wrote for her, with the photo I sent, came out in our local paper. Not the way I wanted it to. The photo was supposed to be my mom on shipboard in the Mediterranean Sea. It went along with the text depicting her as a woman who remained hugely adventurous well into her 80s. They cropped it down to nothing but a head shot. With no advance warning that they planned to do so.
And I'm...upset.
I usually try not to share too much upset on my blog, but when you mess up someone's mother's obituary, even in a small way, there's just no do-over on that. Everybody only gets one. And besides, I'm sure you understand that anything involving my mom is likely to pull big emotional strings right now.
What can I do? Well. This. I'm creating my own do-over. Here's how it was supposed to look:
I first learned about Swati and her fabulous young adult novel SPLIT when her editor at Knopf (we share the same YA publisher) asked me if I’d consider reading it with an eye for writing a blurb. It was her debut novel, and I know how important the launch of that first book can feel. And be. Which doesn’t mean I would blurb any book if I didn’t love it.
In the case of SPLIT, no problem. I loved it.
Funny how often an author and I will go on to be friends (or at least good Twitter/Facebook/email acquaintances) after a bonding experience like that one.
So, Swati…thanks for visiting my blog, and here goes:
Swati: Thanks Catherine. It has been a privilege to get to know you and, as I’ve been a fan of yours for a long time, it is particularly meaningful to have your name on the back of SPLIT.
Me: Let’s start with getting your name right. Easy enough in print, but let’s get it right in the readers’ minds, too.
Swati: I appreciate that. Phonetic pronunciation is: SWA-thee Of-US-thee. It’s an imperfect rhyme. The only other perfect rhymes are with other Hindi words, like “chapati” and “hati”. Hmm… maybe that’s why I like bread and elephants.
Barry Eisler and I have a common denominator, a reason our paths keep crossing. That commonality is the amazing and talented Laura Rennert—my agent, Barry’s wife. That makes Laura almost as important to Barry as she is to me. So…Barry and I have shared a few conferences of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency variety, at that hideout lodge in the redwoods of Big Sur. And I definitely knew he was a writer, but I have to admit this: at first I was walking around with my head up my ass and not getting that he was this sort of…Mega-Writer…this legend in the industry. Probably just as well, because now he knows how I’d be treating him if he weren’t. The same. Basically.
I remember my first impression of Barry, as shared with Laura. I said, “He’s funny.” She said, “Yeah. He is funny.”
But somehow this has to morph into an interview, so I’d better start to pressure it in that direction.
Me: Barry, I still remember the day I read that initial conversation between you and Joe Konrath (which you later titled Be the Monkey, and made available for free download). It was shortly after you’d walked away from all that money at St. Martin’s, an event I still refer to as “The Shot Heard Round the World.” I read the whole thing, every word, then closed the web page and thought, “I’m saved. Everything is going to be all right after all.” I was in that classic author’s bind—I had the name, but not the right sales numbers in the right order, and the US publishers (I’m doing fine in the UK) weren’t wanting to take a chance, no matter how much they loved the books, and the industry was falling apart, and goddamn it this is how I pay my mortgage. I was in a box I thought I might never break out of. I wouldn’t have thought of Indie, because of its stigma. But you erased the stigma in one act. In one day. You leveled the playing field, making Indie an option for those who seek it, not just for those who have no other choice. Wow. Listen to me running off at the mouth, and I haven’t even found a question yet.
Here’s the question: I know you took, and continue to take, a lot of crap for the decision to go Indie—and the subsequent decision to go Amazon—with The Detachment. In fact, you seem to take a lot of crap in general, which I interpret to mean you’re flying high enough to draw some anti-aircraft fire. But do you also get sincere appreciation from authors (other than me) for changing the landscape in which they live and work?
Barry:
We have to do an interview? I was so enjoying all the nice things you were saying about me!
At least let me return the favor: when I first met you, all I knew was that you were the writer whose manuscripts Laura devoured in a sitting or two; the ones where she had to make a second pass wearing her editor’s hat because the first time she was completely seduced by the story; the ones where, when I heard her crying over a manuscript, I’d say, “Ah, that must be Catherine’s new one,” the ones she would hand me tearfully saying, “You have to read this passage. It’s gorgeous.” And she was right. And I knew you’d written something like 18 books, and that one, Pay It Forward, had been made into a big movie, so I think I was semi-expecting a diva, and instead you were totally down to earth and funny and fun to hang out with.
Jeez, this is making me miss the Big Sur Writer’s Conference. We need to get back there.
But okay, your question… yes, I’ve taken a certain amount of criticism for some of my business decisions, and I think the reactions are interesting on several levels. First, I think it’s fair to say that my moves haven’t been welcomed in the legacy publishing world, but the reasons for that are pretty easy to understand. The more options authors have, the more competitive companies will have to become if they want to remain viable publishers. When every legacy publisher offers authors the same 17.5% of the retail price of a digital book, authors have to take it. When authors can make double that or more being published by Amazon, when they can make a whopping 70% per unit self-publishing, it puts pressure on legacy publishers to adapt and up their game. And, because they’re composed of humans, and because humans are inherently lazy, legacy publishers would prefer to avoid real competition and instead go on subsisting on monopoly rents.
An announcement. And a giveaway I already like a lot. (And it hasn't even started yet.)
Just after midnight tonight (this was written Wednesday the 7th--it's free now) the U.S. ebook edition (*UK readers, please see update below) of my novel When I Found You is going to enjoy five free promotional days. Thursday March 8th through Monday March 12th, you can get a Kindle copy absolutely free. Not a contest, a free ebook for everybody who wants one.
This is one of my personal favorites of all my books, and of course I want as many people as possible to discover it. If you want to read more about it, you can jump to its book page on this site, or if you just want to snag your free copy, go ahead and jump right to its Amazon page. (Assuming, of course, that's it's Thursday the 8th, Monday the 12th, or something in between.)
Here's where the contest comes in: I'm giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to someone who posts an Amazon review for this book between today and the middle of April.
Two important things I want you to know about the giveaway: One, there is no purchase necessary, because I purposely tied the timing to the ebook's free days. So you can pick up a copy for free, and if you post a review, you can get in the running. Two, and this feels even more important: I will be choosing a winner at random. This means I'm not giving a prize to the person who raves the most. All honest reviews will have exactly the same chance. I would never try to give you an incentive to say anything other than what you really thought. I just think a lot of you will like it. Anyway, that's what I'm banking on. And a range of reviews are a good way to help readers decide, anyway.
So grab a free copy (and, by the way, if you don't have a Kindle, you can download free Kindle software for your computer), and if you post an Amazon review, please come back to this blog and leave a comment telling me so, with your email entered into the comment form. (Don't put it in the body of your comment unless you want the whole world to have it.) Otherwise I'll be able to read the review on Amazon but not contact you if you win.
And that's it! I'll announce a winner on April 15th. Good luck!
*To my wonderful readers in the UK, I'm sorry to say I only have these marketing controls (such as a brief promotional giveaway) on the US edition. If you read the comments below, you'll see that one of my lovely UK readers decided to buy and review the book anyway, even though she felt she could not qualify for the gift card, either. If you're in the UK, you might want to read my response to her. If you're willing to purchase and review the book, you should be able to get in on the gift card giveaway. So I'll just wait to buy the card until I know whether the winner is US or UK. Sound fair to all?
I am absolutely delighted to announce that the (briefly) free ebook edition of When I Found You is #1 in the Amazon Kindle store. It's #1 in free, #1 in Literary fiction and #1 in Contemporary fiction. No idea how long it will hold, but I'm barely breathing. Thanks to all of you who downloaded it (so far) for making this promo such a smashing success. And to those who haven't yet, there's plenty of time, and the link is above!
AND THE WINNER IS...Lisa C! Thanks so much to those who took the time to get involced. And Lisa...you've got mail.
Cheryl is one of the authors I might not know if it weren’t for the literary corner of the Twitterverse. As it is, I feel as though we’re old friends, trading books and dog pictures and keeping up on each other’s career. And there’s always the retweet, that simple click of a button that authors can—and do—use in support of one another.
I first became interested in Cheryl’s groundbreaking YA novel SCARS when I clicked through a Twitter link and watched Cheryl in a TV interview. That’s when I learned that Cheryl was herself a victim of unimaginable ritual abuse as a child, and was…as the old writers’ saw goes…writing what she knows. That’s even her arm on the cover. I’ve always been deeply impressed by all forms of emotional honesty and emotional courage (often one and the same) and I knew this was a book I had to read. I’m also halfway through Cheryl’s new paranormal YA novel HUNTED, which seems to be getting another great reception from her readers and fans. So nice to see success come to authors who deserve it!
Recently I've had two long trips plowing through my older blog posts. One was in search of travel posts to pin on Pinterest. (Yes! I'm on Pinterest now! And if I may be allowed to say so, I think my boards are starting to look somewhat cool.) The other was to add share buttons on the posts that still feel relevant.
Here's what I discovered: there are quite a number of posts that have fallen back into the archives, where they are unlikely to be found by any but the most diligent and non-busy surfer. And they might be relevant, and might interest more recent readers/followers of this blog.
And so I thought, There must be a way to organize these older blog posts to make them easier to find.
Then, for the eleventy-millionth time, I discovered I can make this website do lots of things I never knew it could do.
Too late for long story short, but I've added both a blog index widget on the right sidebar of my blog, and an actual Blog Index page. The widget allows you to access older blog
Suffice it to say that Anne and I go way back.
No, I take it back. That’s hardly saying enough.
Anne and I live about 40 minutes apart on the Central Coast of California. I recently figured out that we’ve been fast friends for at least 14 years. Because that’s how long I’ve had my only tattoo, a sword from the Ryder Tarot deck wrapped around my right wrist. I got it when I was…well, let’s not get into too many age specifics. Let’s just say I remember when I got it. And it was 14 years ago. And Anne was hugely supportive and encouraging. And not everybody was.
It was a treat (for me—perhaps less so for Anne) to be her friend during the times she
I may have mentioned it briefly on this blog before, but my next reader slideshow is all Pay It Forward. It's a way of showing the world the faces behind the (growing by leaps and bounds!) Pay It Forward Movement. This year is looking to be a "tipping point" for Pay It Forward, so the time to do this is now. The Movement is about people, so let's get a look at them. See how varied and wonderful they really are.
I made the video I'm embedding below as a "call for submissions." I wanted you to hear the Pay It Forward song I'll be using (by permission, of course). It's by Mark David Miller
Brian Farrey is one of my “Tweeps” (translation: Twitter pals). He’s also one of the four people who participated in (and, irritatingly, won) The Bet. Yet, bizarrely, these are not his main claims to fame. Some actually find it more important that he is the debut author of the terrific YA novel WITH OR WITHOUT YOU (which…I just have to say…please let me know if that book doesn’t pull in most of the major LGBT awards in its category so I can go hurt someone for being on the take) or that he is an editor at Flux books. Or that he has a middle grade novel tentatively titled THE VENGEKEEP PROPHECIES due out this year. People and their priorities, huh Brian?It's officially here, folks. If you sent me a photo of yourself for my third reader slideshow, check yourself out. Music is courtesy of my good friend Jude Johnstone...and it's a song about a writer. What could be better than that?
I have an announcement about reader slideshow #4: it's going to be all Pay It Forward. This doesn't mean I don't want photos of you with my other books. It just means that I'm going to put together one whole slideshow devoted to Pay It Forward, and then go on to another mixed slideshow. I'll also reuse several good Pay It Forward photos that were sent to me for previous shows.
I’m really not a book reviewer. I’ve never pursued reviewing, probably because I’m not comfortable being critical with another author’s work. I’ve only ever been asked to do one review, once—by Ron Charles of the Washington Post. I have no idea why he asked me. He stated as his reason remembering my novel Electric God, which he reviewed kindly when he was with the Christian Science Monitor. (He armed me with that wonderful retort for Simon & Schuster’s positioning disaster: “The book jacket says this is a modern retelling of the Book of Job, but I hardly think that’s a selling point.” It was enough to help me leverage that ridiculous and untrue log line off the paperback edition.) I’m getting off track. The book he asked me to review was Jackie’s wonderful CAGE OF STARS.Today I realized I had three pieces of news for this site, this blog, and they all have to do with slideshows.
First, and most importantly, I'm undertaking a reader slideshow similar to the My Fabulous Readers ones you see here.
The difference is, this new one will be all Pay It Forward. It's a Pay It Forward readers
A little background for my readers. When I was a starving author…oh, wait, I still am. I mean, I am again. Let me start over.
The first time I was a starving author, Chris Moore lived here in my tiny town of Cambria. He used to work at a motel in San Simeon with my mom, but, when his big break hit, I’d still never met him. One day, post-meteoric success (his), he dropped in to our Cambria Writer’s Workshop on a day I was scheduled to read my work. Heart pounding, unable to breathe, I quickly
I'm not a hundred percent sure what got into me. Except that for many years now, I've had the feeling that I should be doing more with my photos. A couple of days ago the idea to create this video came out of nowhere, and I didn't ask any questions.
All of the photos are mine. And the Vivaldi music is legally and respectfully reused (the attribution is in the video information on YouTube).
Some of the photos are from far-flung countries like Tunisia, India, France, Italy, Greece
