Decked with Holly is going into a second printing in Hungary!
And yeah, I did this when I found out the good news.
That isn’t all! My Hungarian publisher just showed me the cover art for Invisible because *drumroll please* they will be releasing it in October!
VISIBILITY VEST FOR LOSERS!!!!
That is really the translation for the title. And you know what? I LOVE IT! I love absolutely everything about it!
And I give most of the credit to my Hungarian fans for making this happen. (Don’t get me wrong: I don’t think I could possibly love my Hungarian publisher more than I already do. I’m so grateful for all the hard work they have put into this!) At the end of the day, my Hungarian readers proved to the publisher that they really wanted to read Jane’s story. They told their friends about my books who told their friends about my books…
They are the reason Awkward and Decked with Holly are both in second printings!
Which is incredibly exciting because it makes it even more likely that Notable will be translated next!
I know. I know. I’m getting ahead of myself. But can’t you picture Chelsea maneuvering her way onto bookshelves in Hungary like this….?
And then she could shake off the haters like this….
No? Too geeky? Fair enough. Maybe Chelsea is just imitating Mackenzie…
My point is that your purchases can make a world of difference! Oh, and did I mention that most of my books are on sale right now? Because they are $2.99 on Amazon right now…
You might want to bunny-hop over there and buy them now…
Last but certainly not least: I did an interview with Bitch Magazine recently! I sat in front of a fancy microphone and discussed writing and everything. You can catch my interview (Oh yeah, and listen to P.C. and Kristin Cast and Malinda Lo, which is just…they are so awesome! *mind explodes*) right here!
So a bunch of you awesome people have wanted me to sign your books. Just for the record: I totally want to do it for you! I even got a PO Box to make it possible!
The logistics involved are definitely daunting though. You have to send a copy to my PO address and then I have to ship it back…
And the last time I sent a package through the US postal service it reached the intended destination…three months after her birthday.
Good thing there weren’t cookies in there. That’s all I’m saying.
So yesterday in order to fix this problem, I knowingly journeyed somewhere that makes me lose my mind. Seriously. The last time I went there four of my friends had to forcibly remove me from the premises.
I know it’s ridiculous, but I instantly morph into a preschooler when I’m at Sticker Planet. And the one thought running through my mind becomes: MINE! ALL THESE STICKERS MUST BE MIIIINE!!!!
That’s when my friends usually try to remind me that I need to save my money for the Romance Writers of America Conference in Atlanta (SQUEE!!!! I can’t wait!) and that I don’t actually need fifteen packages of stickers.
And then I remember that since these stickers are obviously an essential part of my writing process, they are technically tax deductible.
Fake moustache stickers: $5
These expressions: priceless.
The cashiers were like, “Um…do you want to join our valued customer program or something?”
And I said, “HAHAHA…NO! Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how dangerous that would be?!”
That’s when they traded looks and edged further away from the crazy girl who thinks the words “stickers” and “dangerous” belong in the same sentence.
But c’mon…how great is this:
It’s Jane! And no, sadly, my video trailer will not include all these awesome stickers. But a future one totally will!
And who will look ridiculous then, I ask you?!
Okay, probably still me.
But I did it all so that I could buy these fun labels for you guys!
This way you can have an autographed copy of my books without a logistical nightmare. If you want me to send you one (or more!) I just need you to follow a very simple procedure:
1. Email me at MarniRBates@gmail.com or send me a letter addressed like this:
Marni Bates
PO Box 415
Los Angeles, CA 90078
I know it can be scary sending an email to a stranger with your address in it, so I totally understand if you’d prefer to go by mail. The important thing is that I get an address to send it to!
2. Write your name clearly so that I can personalize it for you.
3. If you don’t want me to address it to you, let me know! I can just sign my name if you’d rather have me do that.
4. Wait for me to send it to you!
That’s it! That simple. And this offer totally applies to my friends outside the US too! *Waves enthusiastically to all my awesome fans in Hungary and Brazil*
And now I better start packing! I’m going home tomorrow so that I can give my mom a big ol’ hug on Mother’s Day.
But there will still be a vlog post on Sunday and Monday (probably), so stay tuned!
Okay, it’s been awhile since my last post. I have some very exciting news that I’m not allowed to share right now though. So I thought if I put myself on blogging lockdown that would make my secret keeping easier.
It totally didn’t.
And now I have all of these things to tell you!
Where to start? Perhaps with the Romance Writers of America who recognized the absolute brilliance of my friend Erica O’Rourke’s book, Bound?
Erica is one of those authors that makes you curl up into a little ball and say, “I cannot handle the awesome. I. Cannot. Handle. The. Awesome.”
At least that was my reaction while I read her books.
So I could not be more thrilled for her (or more excited to meet her in real life at the RWA conference in Atlanta! We will be speaking on a panel with the spectacular Jennifer Estep, the incomparable Nina Berry, and our editor-of-awesome Alicia Condon!) and all the other nominees!
I look forward to meeting you all in Atlanta!
AND THEN…
I received this COMPLETELY AWESOME package from KTeen!
Advanced Reader Copies of INVISIBLE (Jane’s book)!!!
I’m going to set up giveaways and post some sneak peeks soon! So keep checking in!
AND THEN…
I got another package from KTeen with the coverflats of NOTABLE (Chelsea’s book)!!!
But if I posted those right now that might be too much awesome. I don’t want to send you into awesome overload all at once.
*Grins*
Except now I feel guilty for leading you on so….
HERE IS THE HUNGARIAN BOOK TRAILER FOR AWKWARD!!!
That’s right. The Hungarians made a book trailer! Which means that if you don’t actually speak Hungarian, you’re not going to be able to understand, y’know, what she’s saying…
But I happen to think the CPR scene speaks for itself! I am beyond thrilled with it!
LAST BUT NOT LEAST…
I am starting a vlog!
This is a brand new venture for me so you should definitely expect there to be a learning curve. But I decided that this would be an exciting way for me to interact with all of you in a way that goes beyond words. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ll still be speaking in my YouTube videos. I won’t just like, stare creepily at the screen or anything.
Not often, at any rate.
So I hope you enjoy my vlog! I also really hope you leave me a question or a comment. Remember: I’m doing this for YOU! Questions about writing, editing, college, high school, life…all of it is totally fair game!
I recently had a case of love at first sight. It was a magical moment. His eyes met mine and I just knew it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
To tell the truth: I fell head over hedgehog.
Everyone, meet Oswald! Isn’t he the cutest thing ever!?
There was just one thing preventing our happily ever after–the fact that we both knew he was destined for someone else. Oswald’s heart will always belong to his incredibly talented artist/my best friend, which is why after we spent a blissful month together, Oswald traded in my bedroom for hers. And because she is completely amazing . . . I now fall asleep every night looking at these three handsome fellows!
Gregory MacGuffin the Third!
Poquito Incognito!
And last, but certainly not least:
Umberto!
I can’t even tell you how much I love these hedgehogs. I like to think that they are diligently guarding my books from bad reviews.
And these aren’t the only cool photos I have to show you!
I know it might sound silly, but I absolutely love seeing photos of people enjoying my books. It makes my day. So obviously I was delighted when I caught a glimpse of these:
The seriously skilled Melina Souza took this photo and wrote a great review of Awkward that you can read here!
Just a quick heads up . . . she wrote it in Portuguese. Because that’s her first language.
You know what book I’m able to pick up and start reading in an entirely different language?
Me neither.
Probably because it doesn’t exist.
I’ve taken five years of French classes and I still relied heavily on the subtitles for this hilarious/adorable cat video!
I hope your reaction looks like this:
I’m not going to repost all of Mel’s awesome photos here but . . . this one is my new desktop image.
Overwhelmed with the awesome!
These pictures inspired me to try creating a game (I really hope you’ll all play it with me! Pretty please?) that goes something like this:
Step One: You stick a copy of Awkward (or Decked with Holly) in your purse/backpack/car and take it with you everywhere.
Step Two: Every time you think to yourself, Now that would be a funny place to see Awkward, you pull out the book.
Step Three: You take a picture.
Step Four: You send the photo to me (either here or on my Facebook author page would be great!)
Step Five: I completely geek out!!!
Fun, right?! I also think it has some pretty great ice-breaker potential. I mean, let’s say that someone you happen to be crushing on is around and you have nothing to say to them.
*Cough* Marni’s daily experience in high school.
So instead of letting the opportunity to talk slide away like this . . .
You can be all, “Okay, so I know this is a little awkward, but um…would you mind holding up a copy of this book right by the sign for the boys’ restroom? HAHA! I know. It’s weird. But the author said that the person who posts the best photo gets an advanced reader’s copy of her next book so…”
Oh, did I forget to mention that?
Because I will totally do it. I don’t usually send stuff to people who live outside the US, because shipping can get expensive, but for this contest . . . game on!
That way we will have something fun to do while we wait for the Invisible ARCs to be ready!
*Happy dances*
I would love to hear what you think of the game, so feel free to leave me a comment! *Super subtle hint*
As many of you may have heard, I’ve been working away recently on finishing up my edits for Invisible (aka the non-spinoff sequel to Awkward).
Now editing is not my favorite part of the editing process. Usually I stare at my laptop and say:
And of course that inevitably turns into this…
Why must paragraphs be so sneaky?
Luckily, I have a fantastic editor, Alicia Condon, who gives brilliant suggestions. And with her help, I think I successfully pulled off some book-related karate.
This is the extent of my actual karate skills.
But it’s over now. For real, folks. I’M DONE EDITING INVISIBLE!
This is an accurate depiction of my Starbucks victory dance.
How did I celebrate? By meeting up for more coffee with romance authors extraordinaire, Maisey Yates and Lisa Hendrix!
Which is kind of incredible considering that Maisey was the very first person I met at the RWA.
Maisey Yates: Made of Awesome.
At the time, I wasn’t exactly acting cool though. In fact, I’m still not entirely certain I was coherent. Probably because every fiber of my being was doing this:
So I was pretty thrilled to see her again, under slightly less intense conditions. And I’m so glad Lisa was able to join us!
Lisa Hendrix: Supernaturally Awesome.
It felt like a mini-RWA conference! Especially when we roped our Applebee’s waitress into a discussion of Fifty Shades of Grey.
It was a night of great hilarity that nearly didn’t end because I can’t give directions to save my life. Seriously. Maisey threatened to shank me and I still couldn’t produce a single street name. I just kept gesturing vaguely to my left and saying, “I think it’s that direction. Maybe.”
So if a young female character ends up abandoned by the side of the road in Maisey’s next book, we will know what inspired that particular scene.
And now I’m feeling all inspired to get back to writing. Well, maybe after I watch a few episodes of Veronica Mars…
~Marni
P.S. If you haven’t already seen it, you should totally check out my book trailer for Decked with Holly!
Yesterday I woke up to a stunningly awesome email sitting in my inbox from my awesome KTeen editor, Alicia Condon.
Here was the subject line:
3 Brazilian Rights Sale – Marni Bates
Now, maybe I’ve been reading too many romance novels lately, because I completely misinterpreted what this meant.
At first I thought maybe Kensington sold some books about Brazilian billionaires for another author and wanted to let me know about it.
And then I thought that since they included my name, maybe they wanted to hire me to write books about Brazilian billionaires! (All Brazilians are super wealthy in romance novels. And they wear very, very expensive ties that become disheveled after they rake their hands through their thick, dark hair.)
And yes, I would have a whole lot of fun writing three steamy books about very rich Brazilian men! Except, it’s not exactly what I had in mind for my next project…
Anyhow, I rubbed my eyes and decided that maybe instead of obsessing over the subject line I should do something bold like, oh, I dunno, read the email.
Which is how I found out that Awkward, Decked with Holly, and Invisible are all going to be translated into Portuguese!!!!
I am absolutely thrilled to be translated. It almost makes me want to learn Portuguese. The only thing stopping me is the fact that I’m terrible at learning other languages.
Trust me, the last thing Brazilians want is for me to mangle their beautiful language.
I want to give Brazil a big hug too.
But with some help from Google translate, I’d like to say:
Obrigado por ler meus livros, Brasil!
That’s not all either!
Because today I got another email…
Awkward is going to be translated into Spanish!!!!
Gracias por leer mis libros, España!!!!
I seriously can’t express how excited I am about all of this. So I’d like to give a big thank you to everyone involved in making this happen.
The spin-off sequel to Awkward comes out on Tuesday, September 25th.
Also known as this Tuesday! Also known as tomorrow!
*flails arms in excitement*
It doesn’t feel real yet.
In fact, it feels decidedly unreal. And I know I should be more familiar with the concept by this point. I wrote a book, sent it to my editor, banged my head against a wall a few thousand times and voila! It hits the shelves!
(Not an accurate depiction of the writing/publishing process. Obviously. Since I left out roasting marshmallows over candles at 2am when I get stuck. Oh, and my unbelievably awesome support group. Y’all know how much I depend on you!)
But it still amazes me to think of my book, sitting on bookshelves, waiting for super awesome people to read it!
Especially because this book holds a very special place in my heart. Which is not to say that I love my other books less (Oh wow, I have a whole lot more sympathy for my mom now. Having her children demand to know which one of us she would save from a burning house first must have been obnoxious. Hint: it would be me) but this one is extra special.
So I’m giving a behind-the-scenes sneak peek:
I was packing for my flight back to Oregon after spending the past three weeks in my cousin’s little apartment near Rice University in Houston, Texas–when I got The Call.
Marni doesn’t quite know how to blend in Texas.
Honestly, if I was in the middle of a mugging and my super agent Laurie McLean rang me up, I’d probably give the muggers the can you hold this for a moment finger and answer the phone.
Um, I think it’s pretty obvious from the photo why I believe she has super powers…
As it was, this particular situation was a lot less dramatic. Even if I did suspect that the humidity in Houston was trying to smother me.
“Hi Marni, I just got a call from KTeen” SuperAgent Laurie said and I instantly brace myself for the news that every copy of Awkward has been destroyed in a freak natural disaster.
“Uh huh…”
“They want to know if you would be willing to write a spin-off holiday novella.”
At this point in the conversation, I distinctly remember happy dancing like a demented chicken and squawking, “YES! Yes! I’ve never written a novella before but I am in!”
“Great. I will email you everything they just sent me and then . . . oh hang on. They want a spin-off novel.”
The demented chicken dance stopped. Probably because it felt like my heart was no longer functioning properly and all that blood was going straight to my head.
“Uh . . . wow! Okay. I mean . . . wow. I can do that. I’ll just set it after Invisible and then–”
“Actually, they want it released between Awkward and Invisible.”
This is when I started pressing buttons on my phone, convinced that I had misheard her and that my crappy cell phone was to blame.
“But I’ve already written Invisible,” I blurted out.
I could practically feel Laurie smiling patiently on the other side of the phone. “I know. That’s why they want this to be a spin-off.”
“Right. Spin-off.” I mumbled. “Um . . . who do you think I should . . . spin . . . off?”
“It could be anyone.” Laurie pointed out. “Maybe one of the rockstars?”
“But they’re guys!”
Laurie waited patiently for me to make my point.
“I’ve never written from a male point of view before! I definitely can’t write a whole novel that way!”
“It’s just an idea, Marni. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
One of my SuperAgent’s most impressive powers is the ability to make me believe that I can do anything. I don’t know how she pulls it off, but when I’m on the phone with her I am willing to agree to just about anything.
And four minutes later I was calling my mom and freaking out.
“I don’t know what I just agreed to do!” I confessed sheepishly. “They asked the Jewish girl to write a holiday novel?! Do you think I should tell them this? Because I refuse to write a Christmas miracle. And no way is Hanukkah Harry coming down a chimney to save the day! Do you hear me, Mom? THERE WILL BE NO HANUKKAH HARRY!“
I made this point–rather loudly, I admit–in the airport and found myself on the receiving end of a more than a few funny looks.
Looking back, I’m just lucky that airport security didn’t consider this un-American sentiment and try to interrogate me about it.
Okay, I’m lucky for a whole host of reasons. I’m eternally grateful to KTeen for allowing me to write Decked with Holly the way I felt the story needed to be told: with two alternating point of views and no Hanukkah Harrys.
And to my SuperAgent, friends and family members who tolerated my Christmas in July tactic.
A special shout-out to my mom who must have stumbled upon me listening to the Pomplamoose version of Always in the Season three hundred times.
This book may have scared me at first but it was an absolute pleasure to write.
I fell completely in love with a certain rockstar drummer and enjoyed every second I spent in his head. I don’t want to spoil the ending but he does something that made me go all melty inside.
I want to discuss it with people soo badly!
So if you want to buy a copy of Decked with Holly you can do so quite easily here:
And if you also want to click the “like” button, I know for a fact that the author will do a demented chicken dance.
You also might want to read Awkward (if you haven’t already) because it will make Decked with Holly even more exciting for you. That said, I promise you don’t have to read Awkward to completely understand what is happening to Holly and Nick.
Then again, with the awesome discount price of $2.99 for Awkward now is a really good time to get it.
Anyhow, once you read the books I sincerely hope you will tweet me with your thoughts. I absolutely love hearing from people! Oh, and whenever I get fan art I call up every single member of my family and I brag about it to them.
One time someone messaged me that I was tied as her favorite with Justin Bieber and I geeked out.
Watch out, Biebs. I’m stealing your fan base!
My point is that I really do love to hear from you so I hope you’ll consider tweeting me at:
Marni Bates 