Emily R. King On Splitting Time Between Two Projects

The second novel is no easy feat, and with that in mind I put together a series of questions for debuts who are tackling the next obstacle in their career path. I call it the SNOB - Second Novel Omnipresent Blues. Whether you’re under contract or trying to snag another deal, you’re a professional now, with the pressures of a published novelist compounded with the still-present nagging self-doubt of the noobie. How to deal?

Today's guest for the SNOB is Emily R. King debut author of THE HUNDREDTH QUEEN a reader of everything and a writer of fantasy. Born in Canada and raised in the USA, she has perfected the use of “eh” and “y’all” and uses both interchangeably. Shark advocate, consumer of gummy bears, and islander at heart, Emily’s greatest interests are her four children. She lives in Northern Utah with her family and their cantankerous cat.

Is it hard to leave behind the first novel and focus on the second?

My second published novel is actually the next installment of The Hundredth Queen Series, so I can’t actually leave book one behind. Second books in series are hard. The author has to meet the reader’s expectations established in the first book and then take everything up a level. The romance, suspense, twists, action, world-building—everything has to ring familiar to the reader yet also be elevated. The most difficult part of the experience is that for the first time I am competing with myself in an open arena. Where before I tried to improve upon each manuscript I wrote, the outcome was mostly private, limited to my critique partners and beta readers. But now that book one will be out for everyone to read, I am striving to retain my readership by one-upping the first book. Tough doings!

At what point do you start diverting your energies from promoting your debut and writing / polishing / editing your second?

Working on two projects at once has its challenges. Becoming an author means wearing a lot of different hats. I set aside certain tasks until after I landed a book deal that I wish I had done before. Some ways to help ease the madness of editing book one while drafting and revising book two would be: establish your social media presence where you will interact with book bloggers and other industry professionals; establish your website with your contact information, news/events, and blog; talk to authors about their pre-publishing process and use their advice when you are in the trenches with book two.

Your first book landed an agent and an editor, and hopefully some fans. Who are you writing the second one for? Them, or yourself?

The second book for is for my publisher, which is weird, because for the first time I am writing a book that WILL be published. But I love the world and characters in The Hundredth Queen Series and am happy to spend more time there.

That being said, between book one and two is the time when an author really has to dig deep and understand why they write. Do they do it for fun? Is it enough to be published? Was that their goal? If so, what is their new goal? What keeps them motivated? I had to really think about and understand why I write, so in the end, whether I am jazzed about my newest story or sick to death of it, fundamentally, every book should in some way fulfill me.

Is there a new balance of time management to address once you’re a professional author?

I am more aware of how much time I spend on social media. When I am on deadline, I delete the social media apps on my phone and turn the Internet connection off on my laptop. This prevents notifications, etc. from interfering with my work. I am also more protective of my writing time. I turn my phone to silent when I am writing, and I write or read every single day.

What did you do differently the second time around, with the perspective of a published author?

I understand my emotions better, so when I hate my book with a fiery passion I know it will pass. I can survive hard editorial critique and finish the suggested edits by deadline. I have more confidence in what I do correctly in my writing, and I am more aware of what I need to improve upon. The emotional highs and lows continue to astound me, but they can be mitigated by shortening the amount of time I am on social media and by keeping my eyes on my own paper. No two publishing journeys are alike. No debut author can look at a successful author’s career and be guaranteed theirs will be the same. But because we are all unique, that leaves ample room for unexpected achievements.

MarcyKate Connolly On Switching Gears In Between Projects

The second novel is no easy feat, and with that in mind I put together a series of questions for debuts who are tackling the next obstacle in their career path. I call it the SNOB - Second Novel Omnipresent Blues. Whether you’re under contract or trying to snag another deal, you’re a professional now, with the pressures of a published novelist compounded with the still-present nagging self-doubt of the noobie. How to deal?

Today's guest for the SNOB is MarcyKate Connolly, author of the MG titles MONSTROUS and RAVENOUS, available from HarperChildrens. MarcyKate has written poetry as long as she can remember, and began her first full-length novel in 2008. Since then she's completed many other novels including MONSTROUS (Upper MG Fantasy, Frankenstein meets the Brothers Grimm) and have several others languishing in various states of incompletion and disarray.

Is it hard to leave behind the first novel and focus on the second?

It definitely can be. You spend so much time writing, revising, and planning for the launch of book #1, that when it’s finally accepted as “done” switching gears can be tricky. However, in my case I think the fact that my second book was a companion novel set in the same world and involving some of the same characters made that transition easier than it might have been if both books were completely unrelated standalones.

At what point do you start diverting your energies from promoting your debut and writing / polishing / editing your second?

You don’t (or at least, I didn’t) and that’s what makes it tricky. Once the editing on that first book is complete, you need to start writing the second. And at the same time, you also need to plan and begin to carry out promotion for the first book. Unless your books are slated to be published more than a year apart, chances are you’ll be doing those things concurrently. It can be hard to balance, but it certainly keeps you busy :) I found using a project management tool to be very helpful in keeping me on track with all the tasks I had for both writing/editing and promotion.

Your first book landed an agent and an editor, and hopefully some fans. Who are you writing the second one for? Them, or yourself?

All of the above! Which is pretty weird (also awesome). When you’re writing the first book the only real expectations are coming from yourself. But now that the book is out there, your agent and editor have professional expectations of you, and your fans have expectations for the next book too. It’s both wonderful and stressful.

It can be hard to do, but the best advice I’d have is to try to tune all that out as best you can. I would have psyched myself out if I’d been focused on writing for someone else. For me, the key was to keep writing the book I wanted to write. If I hadn’t loved the book and the characters and their journey, it would have been a lot more difficult. Also, having a great team of people to work with at HarperCollins certainly helped a ton!

Is there a new balance of time management to address once you’re a professional author?

Definitely! I thoroughly underestimated the amount of time I would end up spending on emails, let alone everything else. Again, investing in a good To Do list app or project management tool is what really helped me. (If you’re looking for a recommendation, I use the free version of Zoho Projects – it also has an iPhone app).

It takes some trial and error to determine how much you can reasonably take on, and I definitely took on more than I probably should have with the first book, but that gave me a more realistic idea of what I could accomplish the second time around. Basically, don’t beat yourself up if you don’t get it right on the first book. Just do the best you can.

What did you do differently the second time around, with the perspective of a published author?

With editing I had a much better idea of what to expect and of what red flags my editors would be looking out for when I was writing my second book. That meant my first edit letter on Ravenous was only 8 pages instead of the 20 page edit letter I got for Monstrous. I learned from the initial experience (thankfully!) and grew as a writer.

When it came time to promote, I made a more realistic plan for myself. I adore blogs and bloggers, but I found that outreach directly to librarians, teachers, and booksellers was more effective for my particular books, so I added in more of that and fewer guest posts. I cut a couple other things I did for Monstrous that saw no returns (press releases, for example) and expanded some of the things that were effective (for example, personalized packets to local librarians). Really, the key for me is to be flexible and chalk up things that don’t work as well as you’d hoped as learning experiences. :)

Lydia Kang On The Value of Down Time While Marketing

Welcome to another acronym-ific writer-centric interview series, the SNOB (Second Novel Omnipresent Blues). Whether you’re under contract or trying to snag another deal, you’re a professional now, with the pressures of a published novelist compounded with the still-present nagging self-doubt of the noobie. How to deal?

Today's guest for the SNOB is Lydia Kang, author of CONTROL and CATALYST. Lydia is an author of young adult fiction, poetry, and narrative non-fiction. She graduated from Columbia University and New York University School of Medicine, completing her residency and chief residency at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She is a practicing physician who has gained a reputation for helping fellow writers achieve medical accuracy in fiction. She believes in science and knocking on wood, and currently lives in Omaha with her husband and three children.

Is it hard to leave behind the first novel and focus on the second?

For me, my second novel (Catalyst) was the sequel and end to the series. So in some ways, I didn’t leave the first novel (Control) behind at all, because it was a continuum. But one of the hardest things was trying to focus on creating the new novel under the constraints of the world building I’d established in the first book. There were times when I’d tied my own hands regarding plot issues, and that was a pain. The other hard thing was trying to amp up the oomph as far as character development and world building. There are a lot of things that are resolved at the end of Control; the challenge was how to reopen a character arc that was different and not redundant, and create a story that touched on some of the best elements in Control but make them fresh and different in Catalyst.

At what point do you start diverting your energies from promoting your debut and writing / polishing / editing your second?

I started writing Catalyst as soon as the book deal for Control happened. I had a one book deal, so there was zero guarantee that Catalyst would be acquired, and that was a huge amount of uncertain stress on me. I wrote the majority of the book when I realized I had made a huge plot mistake (one of the main characters never showed up and that was a big no-no). So then I had to rewrite it.

There was a two year gap between the acquisition of Control and its publication date. In that first year, I wrote Catalyst and it was acquired. During that year leading up to Control’s release date, I was promoting a lot. Then, three weeks before Control debuted, I had to revise Catalyst with a 7 week turnaround, because my editor and I simultaneously decided that Catalyst should be the end of the series, instead of book two of a trilogy. So I had to massively revise it again and smoosh book three into Catalyst to complete the duology. It was incredibly stressful to revise on that tight of a turnaround and promote at the same time! I don’t know how I survived.

Your first book landed an agent and an editor, and hopefully some fans. Who are you writing the second one for? Them, or yourself?

For my fans, my editor, and for me. I put an enormous amount of pressure to make Catalyst work in the story arc with Control, feel new and fresh, but still be familiar. It was a learning process and there was no surprise that I had to revise it so many times to make it happen. I made a lot of mistakes.

Is there a new balance of time management to address once you’re a professional author?

Definitely. But if anything, I’ve learned to slow down a bit and enjoy my life more. I’ve traveled a lot promoting both books. And though I was thrilled to go to events I’d only dreamed of, like Comic Con in San Diego, teen book festivals around the country, school visits, TLA, ALA, and RT, I also learned that I’m far more of an introvert than I realized. So my down time is really important to me now.

What did you do differently the second time around, with the perspective of a published author?

I focused on keeping a gauge on my energy levels and lean on my family and author friends when I’ve been stressed out. This can be a lonely, isolating profession at times and my family and friends have been tremendous in supporting me. Also, instead of my experiences blitzing by in the shininess of new experiences, I was able to take a larger look at things, slow down a bit, and enjoy them more. :)