Kimberly Pauley

Pictures from the Valentine's Day Signing

So, I completely forgot to take a camera with me on last Sunday’s Valentine’s Day author signing with Kristin Walker and Kristina Springer. Because I suck. Kidding. Kind of. BUT Kristen (@bookgoil AKA Bookworming in the 21st Century) came and was not so unprepared as I was. And she was kind enough to send me some pictures.

Looking at these pictures, I can’t help but think: Geez, I’m short.

Didn't we make it all purty?

Kristin, Me and Kristina lookin' all in charge and things

Kristin, Me, The Max (flirty boy), Kristina, and Kristen (that's a lot of K's)

Posted in Author Appearances, pictures | 6 Comments »

Valentine's Day Author Signing in Bolingbrook, IL!

What: A Valentine’s Day Author Signing with me (Kimberly Pauley), Kristina Springer (author of The Espressologist), and Kristin Walker (author of A Match Made in High School) — call it the Three K’s (though I guess my mom must not have gotten the memo exactly right…)!

We’ll be signing and we’ll have goodies, and who knows what (I *might* be bringing an advance copy or two of Still Sucks to Be Me with me…so if someone sees this and comes and asks me…)! Come out and chat and bring us a Valentine.

Where:  Borders Books in Bolingbrook, IL
161 N. Weber Road
Bolingbrook, IL 60490

When: February 14, 2010 (V-Day!) at 3 PM

Please spread the word! I SO do not want to sit and eat a bunch of Valentine’s Day cookies by myself…

P.S. This is actually, believe it or not, my very first bookstore signing.

Tags: author signing, bolingbrook, borders books, valentine's day
Posted in Author Appearances | 7 Comments »

The Prairie Writer's Day Conference & Other Random Thoughts

So, I went to the SCBWI Illinois Prairie Writer’s Day Conference this Saturday. It was a strange experience for me. I haven’t been to a conference since we lived in Florida (I used to go to the Florida Suncoast Conference every year) — and, more importantly, since I got published. It feels entirely different now. Of course, there’s also the difference in conferences; the Suncoast one is much larger and for writers of…well, everything…while the SCBWI ones are (naturally) for those that deal in YA, kiddie lit, and illustration.

I still remember very fondly the year I got to have dinner with Harry Harrison. That was one of the highlights of my life. Should I say that? Oh, I am such a sci-fi geekette. Anyway, back to today.

It was a good conference but, as most such things are, it’s really geared more towards the pre-published than the published. I can’t say that I learned a whole lot. But then, I’ve also been “around” the business for quite some time what with running YA Books Central all these years. And other stuff. Eh, did I ever tell you I interned as an editorial assistant at a University Press? Oh my, the slush pile. It was, eh, academic. But weird.

But I digress (like I normally do).

Not that I am by any means an expert at anything in this crazy writing business. I may be published (and come May I’ll be more than a one hit wonder–Yay!), but I still have lots of questions. But they aren’t really the questions that get answered at conferences unless you can have a wee bit of a chat with an editor or agent (but not a stalkerish one). Though technically I suppose I can chat with my own  editor or agent. And I do. But sometimes, it’s hard to get solid answers. And I have to sometimes wonder if they’re just being nice (because they are, you know. Nice. Really. Awesome people.).

Like I’ll ask, “Um, so how is my book doing? Is it doing okay? How many copies should I be selling? How many copies do debut authors tend to sell on average?”

The answer I’ve gotten to that question is basically “Hey, it’s doing just fine.” and “It’s hard to give an average. I really couldn’t say.”

Maybe it’s because my husband is a math dude that I get a little caught up in numbers. Or maybe because he’s always asking me. When I get my royalty statements I can tell him how many copies I’ve sold, but I’ve never really been able to say whether it’s a good number or not. Because I really don’t know and it’s not the kind of stuff you can find anywhere online and they don’t teach it at conferences (though if someone did a breakout session on that? Oh, I would totally take it). And you can’t compare to news reports because they only seem to report on the big guns.

And I am NOT J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer. I am not selling millions of copies. Not that I would complain if I was. So, you know, if you feel like going out there and buying a copy or two or three…

Um, anyway, where was I? Oh yeah. The conference.

One of the little tidbits I happened to learn today was during a session with Michael Stearns of Upstart Crow Literary. He’s an agent that I’ve followed on Twitter awhile and kept up with his blog posts (he’s pretty funny and if you know me, you know I like funny). He used to be an editor with a couple of different (very large) publishing houses. He said that [fairly popular author who I've heard of and admire greatly]’s first 4 or so books sold only a few thousand copies each. And even his [really great, very awesome] award-winning novel only sold like 6,000 copies in hardcover.

Whoa.

Really?? I mean, I’d seen a news article recently that said something about how a first book nowadays is considered a success if it sells 5,000 copies. I thought it was a typo. Seriously.

Sucks to Be Me (in hardcover) has sold a bunch more than that. Not like Rowling level bunches or anything (not even close), but way more than that! And the paperback version that came out in August? It’s already sold more than that (though I think the numbers he was quoting were all about the hardcover, so I don’t know how the paperback sales stack up). And the hardcover did even go into a second printing, pretty fast.

So I do feel like, hey, maybe my book is doing pretty good! And who knows what will happen once the sequel comes out in May? Maybe even more people will discover it.

Hmmm. Betcha didn’t realize that even published authors still stress about stuff, huh? It makes me smile every time a fan writes me (and I write back) and they go “OMG! A Famous Author wrote me back!” Because I sooooooo do not feel remotely famous. If I’m ever out and about and I actually see someone reading my book (someone I don’t already know), I will probably SQUEE out loud and faint dead away.

Hmm. Maybe it’s a good thing I’m NOT J.K. Rowling. I’d have to carry a pillow around to land on or something.

But I should get back to talking about the conference. It was pretty good. Besides Michael Stearns, the other keynote speakers were Cynthia Leitich Smith (it was incredibly awesome to FINALLY meet her in person after having “known” her for years via email and she also brought along her husband Greg, who writes middle grade novels that I also love, so that was a bonus), Stacy Cantor from Walker Books, Yolanda LeRoy from Charlesbridge, Alisha Niehaus from Dial Books (Penguin), and Nick Eliopulos from Random House. They were all great, though Nick was especially funny — PLUS he also went to the University of Florida AND he also played D&D in High School! And he’s on the shorter side (though not nearly so short as me). I’d love to work with him someday. I think he’d be fun. I would totally write a paranormal gay romance just to do it.

Okay, I’m sure that made no sense to you. Ha! Nick had filled out a questionnaire about what he’d love to see come across his desk and that’s what he put down, even though he was kind of joking. But only kinda.

Though the novel I’m working on now is paranormal and it does have some romance and it does have a gay character…hmmmm. Though the gay character is a best friend and not the main character, so not a 100% fit. Anyway. But who knows, maybe my agent can send it to him when I’m done. You never know.

I thought all of the editors that came were very interesting and knew their stuff. And they were entertaining…Yolanda even sang and danced for us and Alisha turned a cartwheel.

Um, maybe you had to be there.

I also took in a breakout session with Cynthea Liu, the author of Paris Pan Takes the Dare. It was on PR. I actually pretty much already do all the things she talked about (which, geez, hopefully so since my first book came out in 2008!), though the one thing I ought to be more proactive about is scheduling events and trying to book school visits. I just haven’t put that as a big priority, partly because of The Max. But Cynthea’s got a 2 year old and if she can do it…Though, really, I think it’s tough right now because most schools and libraries just don’t have the funding to book authors. And I can’t afford to do visits for free (heck, childcare for The Max is around $100 if I’m gone all day) except when I do it as a promotion/giveaway. *sigh* Darn economy. But who knows, maybe next year will be better.

The only cringe worthy moments for me were when anybody brought up vampire novels during the talks. And how they were so over and blah, blah, blah. *sigh* Every time someone at one of these things asks me what my book is about, I kind of hate telling them it’s a vampire book. But it’s different! I say, while their eyes glaze over. I feel like I need to get a T-shirt written up with a disclaimer: Yes, I wrote a vampire book. No, I didn’t write it because of Twilight. I wrote it before Twilight came out, thankyouverymuch. There was a bandwagon? Wow, I must have missed that. Really, the undead are sooo dead? Thank you for telling me. I hadn’t heard that. Yes, I do have fangs. Do you want to see them? No, the book I’m working on now doesn’t have any vampires in it. No, it doesn’t have werewolves in it either. No, there are no zombies. No angels either. Would you like a bookmark?

Okay, maybe that wouldn’t be a good idea.

Um…this is getting really long and it’s past my bedtime. And it’s not even a rant. So, to sum up (as Inigo says)…

The conference was interesting. The guests were informative. I still feel all “Whoa, I’m an actual author.” And free Snickers? Those are always yummy.

Tags: alisha niehaus, kimberly pauley, michael stearns, nick eliopulos, prairie writer's day, scbwi illinois, stacy cantor, yolanda leroy
Posted in Author Appearances, Personal, Posts that are entirely too long, Writing | 5 Comments »

ALA 2009! Woot!

So ALA was this past weekend (though technically it is still going on right now today, but all the stuff I was scheduled for was over the weekend). Had an absolute blast, as per usual.

Nina (my editor) and me (with fangs)

I had two signings and a thingy at the YALSA Coffee Klatch (which is mostly where I got to talk to my fellow scribblers). The signings went well and were tons of fun. There were over 150 people at one of them, which was really cool. AND I got to meet the PageFlipper (Chelsea!) and The Story Siren (Kristi!) and Bookgoil (Kristen, who lives in my hometown!) plus more librarians than you can shake a stick at. Not that I would. Since, you know, I love love love librarians.

Me signing, Max wondering what I'm doing.

This time I got to meet a bunch of authors that I’ve corresponded with via email or Facebook over the years (like Sara Ryan and Sarah Dessen and Simone Eckles and Garrett Freymann-Weyr) PLUS some that I’ve read for years and had some fangrrrl type moments meeting (like Richard Peck, Margaret Weis [got to have dinner with her!] and Patricia Wrede) and some that I’ve met a few times but only get to see at author-y events (like Stephanie Kuehnert [and I totally just spelled that without looking it up, so hopefully I spelled it right], Pamela Todd and Kristina Springer) and some I just saw but didn’t really get to speak to (like John Green, David Levithan [I did get to say "hi" but it was during a crazy picture paparrazzi moment, so I don' t know that it really counted], Libba Bray [ditto], and Lisa McMann). Crazy times.

Me and Sarah Dessen

Me and Richard Peck (and his new book!)

Me and Patricia Wrede (!)

The Coffee Klatch was the utmost craziness. For one, I had no idea it was going to be so big. They told me it was like speed dating with librarians, so I thought it was a one-on-one kind of thing. I knew I’d have 5 minutes to talk and then I’d be switching tables. I just didn’t realize that the tables held anywhere from 4 to 10 people. So I didn’t bring nearly enough stuff (I had some STBM reading guides — which, incidentally, my publisher gave me a stack, so if you want one, let me know!) to give away. It was a lot of fun though. And then when it was all over, they got all the authors together for a big photo and I wound up sitting next to David Levithan and Libba Bray (who were both hilarious).

I took a bunch more pictures, including some of The Max (the poor guy got a bug bite on his eyelid on Friday and it was all swollen and red, so he looked like he got in a boxing match and lost). You can check ‘em all out in my Facebook ALA album (you don’t have to be a member of Facebook to see ‘em).

I can’t wait for next year! (And hopefully I get to go) Especially since it’ll be right before Still Sucks to Be Me will come out! Not to mention getting to hang out with the folks from my publisher (Nina, Shelly, Kate, Laura, etc….they’re all awesome!)

Tags: ALA, ALA 2009, kimberly pauley, YALSA Coffee Klatch
Posted in Author Appearances | 8 Comments »

ALA This weekend!

I’ll be at the American Library Association (ALA) convention this weekend. Besides getting to hang with my lovely editor Nina and Shelly the awesome and a bunch of wonderful librarians and a boatload of cool authors, I have a couple of things scheduled:

Saturday 7/11
Book signing (WotC booth #1442)
3:00 PM 4:00 PM

Sunday 7/12
Coffee Klatch (speed dating w/ librarians and authors)
8:15 AM
Kansas Room, Marriott Hotel

Book signing (WotC booth #1442)
1:00 PM 2:00 PM

My hubby Tony and The Max (who’s almost 16 months now!) will be coming with me. All the librarians loved The Max last year. Of course, everybody loves The Max. He’s too cute for words. Anywho, if you’re going to be at ALA, I hope you can come by and meet me! I’d love to see you!

Posted in Author Appearances | 1 Comment »

Pictures from my Awesome!! San Antonio visit

Okay, so here finally are the pictures I took (or my hubby took) of the Character Writing Camp / Vampire Party at the San Antonio library. You can also check out the awesome ones that the library posted too.

It was an awesome time, if you can’t tell from the pictures. We had fun (I hope!) in the writing camp and developed a character uniquely San Antonian…his name was Tuck, he always wore boots, and he had black and purple hair. And a horse that he really loved…plus some family issues and girl trouble (can’t have a story without conflict!).

During the vampire after party there was a rockin’ DJ (we literally rocked the library…I’m sure the other library visitors had no idea what was going on!), red-themed food (did you know there were red Cheetos? I had no idea), button-making, book signing (my publisher, Mirrorstone, was kind enough to donate a bunch o’ books), a red taste test, and lots of fun. It was a great time and the library staff AND the teens (and the not-quite teens) AND even the parents were really, really awesomely wonderful people. Geez, I need to find a new word, huh? I think I’ve used awesome too many times already!

Posted in Author Appearances | 10 Comments »

Me, but cooler & manga-y (by Marci)

Okay, my laptop is FINALLY back in commission! Thank goodness for tech-y computer guys who do house calls (go, Marty!). So now I can get caught back up in my email (got lots while I was down) and get some pictures and things posted.

First up…here’s a picture that one of the participants in the Writing Camp in San Antonio drew by hand! Marci (aka Bob…little inside joke there) is awesome AND talented! This is me…but, you know, cooler. Like as if I was in a manga.

Me, by Marci

Hey, could I be that skinny in real life? Pretty please?

Posted in Author Appearances, Cool Stuff from Readers | 3 Comments »

San Antonio Vampire Writing Workshop

Just found the “official” announcement online, so thought I would post it here too

Vampire Writer’s Workshop and After-party

The San Antonio Public Library Teen Department will host a Vampire Writer’s Workshop and After-Party on Friday, March 13, 2009 from 11:00 am- 4:00 pm. Kimberly Pauley, author of “Sucks to Be Me- The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire,” will conduct a writing seminar on character creation with bite. After the workshop, join with Ms. Pauley at the after-party with music, snacks, prizes and a book-signing session. This event is free and opened to teens 13-18 years only. The Teen Services Department of the San Antonio Public Library is located at the Central Library, at 600 Soledad in San Antonio, TX. For more information, please call the Teen Services Department at (210) 207-2678.

Posted in Author Appearances | 3 Comments »

Croatian news! (!), General Health, and The Max…

So, my little family is finally getting better! We all went to the doctor last week and got gobs of medicine and we’re finally on the mend. This has been rough! We’ve all been sick since January. I’m glad to finally be feeling human again (this is one time when being a vampire would definitely be beneficial, since they can’t get sick like normal people).

In other news — my agent called yesterday and we’ve sold the rights to Sucks to Be Me for publication in Croatia! Isn’t that cool? I can’t wait to see what that version will look like!

And in other other news…Max turned 1 yesterday! He’s getting to be a big boy!

Cake Boy

And we’re all off to San Antonio tomorrow, where I’ll be doing a writing camp at a library. I’m sure it will be a blast! If you’re there, I can’t wait to meet you!

Posted in Author Appearances, Personal, Writing | 5 Comments »

Pictures from the Benito Juarez HS Visit!

I had a great time and hopefully all of the students did too! Here are pictures from last Friday:

Posted in Author Appearances | 1 Comment »