squeetus

Two of my favorite covers ever + winners

Thanks for playing! I just have to reinsert these two lovely images: Spanish Enna Burning and Korean Forest Born. Mmm. (click to enbiggen) At TLA last week, I noticed how rare painted covers are now for YA. It's all photos.

So many of you were SO close. But the first correct answer was from Q!

1. Enna Burning, German
2. Forest Born, UK
3. River Secrets, Korean
4. Austenland, Korean
5. Enna Burning, Spanish
6. Enna Burning, Korean
7. The Goose Girl, Hungary
8. The Goose Girl, Japanese
9. Forest Born, Korean
10. Enna Burning, Japanese
11. Enna Burning, French
12. River Secrets, UK

And as some of you suggested, I'm giving away another ARC to a randomly selected commenter. The winner is...

S Blackburn!

Okay you two winners, email me your address and who you want the ARC signed to! squeetus (at) g mail (dot) com.

ONE MORE CONTEST: On Tuesday evening 7pm MDT (6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern), I'll post all the Goose Girl covers, first correct guesser wins an ARC. I think that one will be tougher. See, I'm doing it in the evening for the sake of students! I do listen to you! There will be 15 covers to guess. Some of them you already know. Some will be really tough. May the force be with you.

International cover contest with prize!

Let's play a game! I'm going to post some international covers of my books (not Princess Academy or Book of a Thousand Days since you've already seen those). The first person who correctly guesses each book and language (language and/or country is fine) wins an ARC of Palace of Stone. In the comments, write your guess, e.g. 1. Goose girl, Korean, 2. River Secrets, English UK, etc. (Enna Isilee, since you gave me most of these digital images you are exempt from the contest and automatically get an ARC.)

EDIT: yes, I know that if you cursor over the images, you can see their names. Sorry, I was too lazy to change the names. Besides, some of the names are wrong. Happy guessing!

Ready to play?

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Deja sob

I spent the last couple of days in Houston for TLA (Texas Library Assoc annual conference). I love Texans and love librarians, so obviously this is an excellent conference. (and they gave us cowboy hats and fake mustaches!) I kept meeting people there who said, "I met you last time you were here two years ago." And I thought, I was here two years ago?

And then I did the math--I would have been preggo. With twins. Nauseated to my eyeballs. And I have no memory of attending TLA. Nothing. I couldn't drag up a single image. Someone said there was a dinner I was supposed to attend but didn't go (probably vomiting in the hotel) where I would have shared a table with those librarians and Suzanne Collins.

Yesterday I was on a panel about graphic novels with an excellent group of lads: Gareth Hinds (The Odyssey, King Lear...), Ben Hatke (Zita the Space Girl), Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game, Laddertop...). Near the end, we were asked a question about something, Gareth answered, it was my turn, and I started to pontificate on how important GNs are for kids and especially certain kinds of readers, and how difficult it would be to find or even publish GNs for young readers without the awesome support of libraries. And I started to cry. Blubber, really, getting embarrassingly emotional, because as much as I yearn to be in total control of my face at all moments, I do that. Mom thing? Me thing?

When I was done, I think there was an awkward silence, and the moderator went to the next person down the line, OSC, repeating what had apparently been the question: "What are you working on now?"

Yep. That had been the question. Not, "Can you sum up why GNs matter, who is to thank for their existence, and why you want to mouth kiss every librarian you meet, and toss in some tears while you're at it?" Nope, I was just supposed to talk about my current project.

OSC said gamely, "I'm not following that."

Afterward, it all started to feel awfully familiar. I looked back on my blog and found my post after last TLA. You guys, I did it there too! The very same speech probably, oozing very similar and equally damp emotions!

I wonder if I'm getting a reputation. If when I show up to conferences, my fellow panelists look at each other and think, oh great, we got the blubberer.

Awkward tears aside, let me just say again, THANK YOU, LIBRARIANS. Thank you.

Book of a Thousand Days around the world

Hebrew. One of the most intriguing and metaphorical covers ever. What do you think?

Korean. I love Korea!

English-UK, hardcover and paperback. Preference?

German. I am such a sucker for this cover.

Spanish. Germany went for an Asian girl with flowers and Spain went for the howling wolf and Stephenie Meyer quote. I'd be curious to know which sold better. (I don't know if other authors ever hear how their books sell in other countries but I don't.) Both, I was interested to see, kept the same title. And same story, I can only assume.

Japanese. This looks like the same cover artist that did Princess Academy too. I like their outfits. Interesting that one is blonde, no?

Italian. Used the same cover as the UK.

Favorites?

Two contests and a new cover

Lots of fun stuff gearing up for the PALACE OF STONE publication. If you're ages 14-23 and read PRINCESS ACADEMY when you were younger, enter this contest Bloomsbury is hosting: Note to My Younger Self Sweepstakes. I'm so excited to see those entries!

If you're on Twitter, another contest from Bloomsbury Kids: "Want to win the sequel to PRINCESS ACADEMY - or even ALL of @haleshannon's books? Tweet what you learned at #PrincessAcademy with the hash tag!"

PRINCESS ACADEMY is getting a new paperback cover in the US and will include a sneakpeek of PALACE OF STONE. It should look pretty familiar. Can you spot the differences from the original?

EDIT: Fun fact, the cover model is fourteen years old, the same age as Miri is at the start of the book. Many of you noted that she looks older. We had to use a different model since the original is in her 20s now and couldn't do Palace of Stone. Others noted my name is larger, which I did not notice before, and now I am feeling all proud of myself. And yes, it looks like you have to be a US resident to enter the first contest, sorry. I'm sure it's because of legal issues and not because we don't love you.

Three Easter photos

Because, why not?

We dyed brown eggs this year and I loved the lovely earth tones of the colors.

More eggs. My lunch. Notable because I had lunch. And it wasn't cereal. Or a granola bar. It looked so pretty when I put the fruit on I had to take a photo. Probably would have been prettier if I hadn't succumbed to that greedy third egg.

Two sisters. I love those chalky bare feet.

More foreign covers, updates, and thoughts on writing and reading to come this month.

An international gallery of Princess Academy

For years I've been meaning to put together a page on my website showing the different foreign covers for my books. I have some, but my scanner is currently being devilish so I haven't been able to scan their covers. (I wish I got a copy of all of them!) With the help of Enna Isilee at Squeaky Books I've been able to track down images of quite a few. I'll put them on my site soon but thought I'd feature them on my blog from time to time as well. Since I've got princess academy on the brain (going through the first page proofs of palace of stone and feeling really happy and relieved!) here's Miri from around the world. I'll put the publishing language beneath each picture. If you want to play "name that language," scroll slowly and see if you can guess first without looking!

Spainish hardcover and paperback. Spain consistently does beautiful covers, in my opinion. Wait till you see Goose Girl and Enna Burning!

Romanian, keeping the US hardcover.

Chinese hardcover and paperback. I love that it's not just the US that tends to vary styles between the two formats.

Korean also kept the original painting. Korea is another country that consistenly wows me with their high quality publishing. Can't wait to show you their Book of a Thousand Days.

English - UK. Do you prefer the first or second?

Japanese. Did you guess?

Italian. The latter is the hardcover. I kind of suspect the cover artist hadn't read the book, but still one of my favorites just because it's so fun and different.

French! Isn't this lovely? I don't think this cover would sell well in the US market, but I'm charmed by it.

Apparently in Dutch, Shannon is only allowed one middle "n."

Danish.

Hebrew. (Notice the image is flipped.)

Norwegian. I received a copy of this one in the mail and looked at it for some time, trying to figure out which book it was. I suppose that's Miri and Peder? In a blanket? And...yes, it appears Peder is shirtless underneath.

Polish! As much as I loved the US hardcover, it's still so fun for me to see the variations. This is one I've never received, but I would know from the cover that it's Princess Academy.

Turkish.

And Russian, sent by squeetuser Polly Lu!

Did you guess many? Any favorites?

The fab four winners are...

WOW! Thank you for the enthusiasm for this book. Instead of making me more scared, your comments just made me excited to share it. That and I'm 2/3 of the way reading through the first page proofs and feeling  confident with it. Whew!

So who won? I wish all of you had! I was filled with admiration by your comments and willingness to share your fears. What lovely people. The four lucky, random winners are:

Kate Hamberlin
"I am excited to read another one of your books! Can't wait to get engrossed again!
I am scared that I haven't taught my children everything they need to know to leave my home and be out in the world. I have two children leaving home this summer to college. I am scared that someday they will regret not having what others had as children. I pray that I have done enough for them to help them gain success."

Christina (A Reader of Fictions)
"Oh my goodness! More Princess Academy!?!?! I had no idea this was coming! No idea at all, but I am the happiest right now!!!
Princess Academy and Goose Girl are among my favorite books of all time. You just made me day.
Winning an ARC would make my month at least!"

BooksforYAs
"I'm scared of not getting an ARC of this book to read?
Okay, I'm scared that my blog will never make me any money and I'll have to either start over with something completely different or go out and get a second job (again). Or try to publish something, which is a whole new level of scary in and of itself..."

Chanis
"Princess Academy is the first book of yours I fell in love with, so I'm smitten with the idea of another!
My bizarre, crippling fear is looking for jobs. Somehow, I can write the cover letter and even interview without too much angst, but searching through"

Winners, please email me at squeetus (at) g mail (dot) com, something in the subject line about being a giveaway winner. Also, tell me who you want me to sign your book to. Congratulations! I believe there will be more giveaways through spring and summer via my publisher and I will be sure to announce them all here.