Kristin Nilsen on Celebrity Crush Covers for Middle Grade Readers

I love talking to authors. Our experiences are so similar, yet so very different, that every one of us has a new story to share. Everyone says that the moment you get your cover it really hits you – you’re an author. The cover is your story – and you – packaged for the world. So the process of the cover reveal can be slightly panic inducing. Does it fit your story? Is it what you hoped? Will it sell? With this in mind I put together the CRAP (Cover Reveal Anxiety Phase) Interview.

Today’s guest for the CRAP is Kristin Nilsen, author of Worldwide Crush which releases today

Did you have any pre-conceived notions about what you wanted your cover to look like?

Definitely! I obsessed about it! No matter what your teacher told you, people definitely judge a book by its cover and it felt very make-or-break to me. Especially because my story may appear to be one thing on the outside (fluffy first crush, celebrity-style) but deliver something very different on the inside (humor! a quirky grandma! poignant coming–of-age arc!). I was so afraid the cover wouldn’t sell the story properly. 

I also have very strong opinions about cover art for middle grade books right now – there’s a trend that is so strong, it makes every book look exactly the same. I won’t say what that trend is because I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus, but I will say I was terrified of getting one of those covers. And I was prepared to say “We are underestimating middle grade readers. They are attracted to more than one thing.”

Did you have any input on your cover?

I had input, yes, but it came with boundaries and I was very nervous about overstepping those boundaries. Which I did. And then I got a call from the publisher which felt very much like getting called to the principal’s office. Being able to say “no, I don’t like that” was both a blessing and a curse. 

How far in advance of the reveal date were you aware of what your cover would look like?

Since I’m a debut author, the only person waiting for my cover reveal with bated breath was me. And the people and animals who are within arm’s reach of me. This makes a reveal announcement a little awkward; it felt less like a public event and more like a personal one. So a reveal date, per se, was not set for me (because no one was watching except maybe my mom), and I was free to reveal the cover when it was officially finalized.

Was it hard to keep it to yourself before the official release?

I felt the opposite actually; I was free to reveal the cover when it was complete – but I couldn’t. I wasn’t nervous anymore because we did, indeed, arrive at that place where I was like YES! THIS! But releasing it to the world felt wobbly. I wasn’t ready. I needed to cradle it in my arms a little longer. So while it was revealed on the publisher’s website, I waited to announce it on my social channels until the two of us had truly bonded. 

What surprised you most about the process?

Two things: first, how I longed to be a part of the process and then actually hated being a part of the process. Okay, I didn’t hate it but it was sooooo STRESSFULLLLL. For a brief moment, I wished I had never been asked for my input because getting to perfection seemed out of reach but I couldn’t stop trying. And I knew I was the thorn in someone’s side. I pictured people rolling their eyes every time they saw an email from me. 

And second, it revealed how much of my book lives inside my head; what does a celebrity crush mean to you? It’s different for everybody. When I say celebrity crush, I picture something specific but the designer pictured something else entirely. We had to come to an understanding about what a celebrity crush means for this book, without our personal interpretations interfering.

Any advice to other debut authors about how to handle cover art anxiety?

No, I really don’t! Although I’m ecstatic about how my cover turned out, I’m still licking my wounds a little bit. I have butterflies just writing this sentence! And I’m sure I will have the same anxiety with my next book. Because it’s that important! 

For me, I think I will work on my communication about the tone and style of my story and also provide quotes from the book that describe my characters fully so the designer will know what the reader is expecting. But for those who don’t have that kind of input, my advice would be… be a good person and manifest hard!

Kristin Nilsen is an erstwhile librarian, a collector of crush stories, and the author of Worldwide Crush (July 2023), a middle grade novel inspired by her own childhood crush on Shaun Cassidy. She co-hosts The Pop Culture Preservation Society, a weekly podcast celebrating the cultural nuggets of the classic Gen X childhood. Kristin lives in Minneapolis with her Gen X husband, her Gen Z son, and their rock and roll goldendoodle, Axl Rose Nilsen. 

What I’ve Learned Along the Way

By: Polly Holyoke

I’ve been writing and selling books for over twenty-five years, which means I’ve been lucky enough to work in my sweatpants and pjs long before COVID made working remotely so popular. I do have a new middle grade fantasy series out from Viking Children’s Books this month, and Skyriders’ publication has given me an excellent opportunity to pause and take stock. I’ve learned a great deal about the publishing business over the past decades, and these are just some of the things I wish I could have told a younger, greener me decades ago.

Be kind, share and give. People I helped along the way turned around and helped me, sometimes in the most unexpected ways. One debut author I’d met online was attending the same conference I was, but he had no dinner plans. I invited him to join me and my friends, and he has gone on to become spectacularly successful. Now he is wonderful about blurbing my books. A mentee I helped with her romance writing turned around and helped create striking, professional sell sheets for me. I always send handwritten thank you notes to the librarians who host me at their schools, and in turn, they often send me wonderful testimonials I can use on my website or line up more visits for me. 

Join professional writing organizations. There is SO much you can learn from folks farther along in their careers than you are. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel! For years I was writing sensitive, well-written and well-researched historical romances, but they were WAY TOO LONG to sell. Once I joined Romance Writers of America and won a critique from a published author, she set me straight. I trimmed 30,000 words from my manuscript and made my first sale three months later. Also, writing can be a lonely, solitary business, and attending conferences and chapter meetings gives you a chance to meet fellow writers who share your goals and friends who share your passion and ambition.  

Be patient and persistent. Very few writers become successes overnight. Very few writers sell the first project they submit. You’ve probably heard some of these stories. Kathryn Stockett was rejected by 60 agents before the 61st agreed to represent The Help. Madeline L’Engle’s classic story A Wrinkle in Time was rejected by 26 publishers, and Kate DiCamillo’s Newbery-winning Because of Winn Dixie was rejected 473 times. 

You have to be submitting your work to agents and publishers, and submitting frequently, to increase your odds of making a sale. Luck does play a factor. You never know when your work may hit an editor’s computer right after the marketing team asked for more school stories or more fantasies. Whenever I have a project out on submission, I already have the next project polished up and ready to send to my agent. 

Fortune favors the brave. This old Latin proverb is particularly true for professional writers. You can’t sell your work if you don’t take a chance and send it out into the world. I know a dozen fine writers who never actually sold books (and they probably could have) because their projects were never finished or never good enough, in their eyes. Deep down inside, some of these talented people were so afraid of failure, they never took the risk of trying to sell their work. 

Treat writing like a profession. If you take your writing seriously, then your family will as well. You have to protect your writing time and set boundaries. Spouses and kids can be trained (after some effort) to respect the time you set aside to write. If you know you write best in the morning, then find ways to protect those morning hours. Rachel Caine, the author of the wonderful Great Library series and sixty-two other books, used to get up before her day job and her family to write for two hours before going to work. If it’s important, you can find the time. 

Never stop working on your craft. You can always get better and learn from other writers and teachers. Some of the most talented authors I know still go to writing conferences and classes. They read books and blog posts on craft, and they are continually finding new ways to improve their writing. 

Know your goals and why you write. I’ve always written to be published and to make money, and that works for me. I recently joined a small-town writing group where most of the folks don’t wish to be published. But they are having a great time writing their memoirs and their thrillers to share with their friends and family, and that’s a valid reason to be writing as well. 

You need to LOVE writing! Publishing is a brutal business, and I often think it’s sad and ironic that the very sensitivity one needs to be a fine writer also leaves authors open to despair and depression. You may write a wonderful book, and yet it is quite possible that it will sell poorly or be ignored by your industry. Right now, many terrific books in my field of children’s literature are failing because some school districts are requiring (thanks to all those book challenges out there) that a book have at least two positive reviews from the biggies in our industry: Library School Journal, Kirkus, The Horn Book or VOYA. And yet those magazines don’t have as many reviewers as they used to, and some authors are lucky to receive a single review, much less two. 

Finally, be kind to yourself. Don’t compare yourself to peers who first debuted when you did. Some are going to be far more successful than you are. Others are going to be less successful, but writing is not a race, and it is not a zero-sum game. Envying others can only make you unhappy and less productive in the long run. Take pride in every book you finish. Be proud of every excellent sentence you write, and do your best to enjoy the journey. 

Polly Holyoke is the award-winning author of the middle grade sci/fi Neptune Trilogy (Disney/Hyperion) and the new children’s fantasy series, Skyriders, releasing from Viking Children’s Books this month. When she’s not tapping away on her computer, Polly enjoys skiing, hiking, and camping in the mountains.

Kimberly Behre Kenna on The Story Behind "Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade"

Inspiration is a funny thing. It can come to us like a lightning bolt, through the lyrics of a song, or in the fog of a dream. Ask any writer where their stories come from and you’ll get a myriad of answers, and in that vein I created the WHAT (What the Hell Are you Thinking?) interview.

Today’s guest for the WHAT is Kimberly Behre Kenna, author of Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade which releases on February 2, 2023

Ideas for our books can come from just about anywhere, and sometimes even we can’t pinpoint exactly how or why. Did you have a specific origin point for your book?

Years ago, I taught fifth grade, and we explored a Long Island Sound salt marsh as part of our ecology studies. Having grown up on the Connecticut coast, the Sound’s shoreline has always been my favorite place to be, so I loved watching my students experience the joy and beauty of this vibrant area that we are so lucky to have as our neighbor. Fast forward five years later… While hiking the salt marsh trails alone one day, my protagonist, Artemis, suddenly appeared as a whisper in my ear. She, like many of my students, had strong opinions about the salt marsh, her sanctuary; it was there that she conversed with plants and animals without feeling self-conscious about her stutter. She worried about its fragile health and what would happen if it disappeared, but how could she ever speak up and help it survive? Artemis’s plight felt personal as I, too, struggled to embrace my voice as a child. I knew this was a story I had to write.

Once the original concept existed, how did you build a plot around it?

Again, my years of teaching informed the process. In order to understand present day environmental problems, my students and I tapped into the wisdom of deceased ecologists. We used drama activities to actually embody these people and think about how to apply their strategies to solve problems around the Sound. Then we wrote and performed plays depicting this. I knew Artemis could also benefit from the past in this way. So, she conjures up the ghosts of Wangari Maathai, Ding Darling and Simon Rodia to energize a brigade that will help keep Long Island Sound “sound” (strong and healthy!) My story plot developed in the same way our class plays did. I embodied a character, allowed their emotions to flow, and then imagined how they’d act upon them.

Have you ever had the plot firmly in place, only to find it changing as the story moved from your mind to paper?

The way I work, moving the story from my mind to paper is always a very sketchy deal! The first time I record a story, it’s skeletal, shaky, and needs to be fleshed out. And even then, my stories never feel firmly in place until I’ve shared them with critique partners and groups, often revising for tension, bigger stakes, and deeper characterization. 

Do story ideas come to you often, or is fresh material hard to come by?

I have a folder of story ideas that I’ve collected, and possibly even worked on, over the years. It includes ideas for novels, short stories, plays and even poetry. Recycling story ideas and mixing and matching them is second nature to me. Putting two or more ideas that at first don’t seem compatible together often do combine to make seeds for a unique story.

How do you choose which story to write next, if you’ve got more than one percolating?

I write the one that excites me the most at the time. It’s a gut level reaction. I’m not great at working on several novels at once, though it has happened, but usually there’s one idea that requires me giving it all the time it needs on its own. And I enjoy immersing myself in just one story. Then, when I need to step back and take a break, I’ll go to another idea and see if a skeletal plot or story line comes to me.

I have 6 cats and a Dalmatian (seriously, check my Instagram feed) and I usually have at least one or two snuggling with me when I write. Do you have a writing buddy, or do you find it distracting? 

I have a rabbit named Sage. The rabbits I’ve had over the years haven’t been super snuggly, but Sage loves to sit next to me on the floor hoping for pets and scratches. That position isn’t conducive to writing for me! But the very first rabbit I adopted plays a role in my second MG novel. So, though not my writing buddies, my rabbits have definitely inspired my writing.

After years as an adolescent and family counselor, and then as a fifth grade teacher, Kimberly returned to school for her MA in creative writing from Wilkes University. Her debut middle-grade novel and first book in her Brave Girl Collection, Artemis Sparke and the Sound Seekers Brigade will be published by Fitzroy Books 2/2/23. The second in the collection, Jett Jamison and the Secret Storm is forthcoming from Black Rose Publishing 8/3/23. Connect with her at www.kimberlybehrekenna.com.