Dear friends,
I'm so happy to be writing this post, and I'm even happier to be inviting you to my launch party. It's a bit unusual, and a lot wonderful, and comes from a pretty awesome chain of events.
Back in 2012, Nikki Urang and I were both querying our first manuscripts and had shared work, and decided to become critique partners. We didn't have agents, didn't have any publishing credentials, and were terrified that no agent was going to want us and not entirely sure we could do this publishing thing. We queried, and revised, and
Welcome to The Hit List: a game of sexual conquest.
We won't judge you, but your girlfriend might.
shared chapters of a new book we were each writing, and kept at it. We both shelved the manuscripts we were querying, and finished the books we were working on. We drew up lists of questions to ask agents if "the call" ever happened. We analyzed feedback in those coveted personal responses to queries. In March of 2013, a few months into me querying my new novel, Nikki signed with her agent, Nicole Resciniti. I was thrilled for her, because she'd worked hard and THE HIT LIST was awesome. We celebrated, and Nikki encouraged me to keep going. I kept querying, got a bunch of requests from agents, and started working on an R&R through the summer. Nikki's book deal with Spencer Hill Press for THE HIT LIST was announced, and I signed with my agent, Carlie Webber.
This whole time, we went back and forth with panic attacks, worries, and all the nerves. All of them. But it was crazy fun, too, working through all this with someone who was going through it, too. I went on submission with my agent in January, and Nikki whipped me back into shape during several melt-downs. Nikki got her release date, and we celebrated again, because a fall release date is a wonderful thing. In March of 2014, my agent told me I had an offer. I panicked. Nikki helped me research, weigh the pros and cons, and supported me when I decided Merit Press was exactly what I wanted. The deal was announced, I was told it would be a fall release date, and we celebrated again. I dove right into edits since it would be a fast timeline, and then I was told my firm release date.
Both THE HIT LIST and HOW WE FALL are releasing on the same day. November 11, Nikki and I become published authors, and we are thrilled to have been able to go through all the rejections and questions and celebrations of querying and our debut year together. She's been a huge support and encouragement for me, and I've tried my best for her. Our first signings were even on the same day, May 30 in New York City, at Book Expo America.
Because of all this, we've decided we want to have our launch parties together, and you are invited! There's nothing quite like the writer friendships you make along the way to publication, and we want you there. Watching our families and friends all over the U.S. and even all over the world come through for us with support and
He kissed her on a dare.
She told him to do it again.
Their secret might tear the family apart.
encouragement and pre-orders and all those things every one of you has done has meant the world to us, and so we want you, there, too. We know many of you can't travel to the Midwest for our launch party, but since this day is important to us, and you being there is important to us, we have created the most wickedly awesome launch party.
November 8-11, our critique partners and closest writing friends are getting together for a writing retreat in Omaha. Writers write, right? We're taking a break from the hectic before-release-day demands and writing all weekend with wine, chocolate, and friends. You'll see us tweeting about it, doing word sprints online, and having fun on the #YAlaunch hashtag, and updating the event's Facebook page with fun news. The last night of the retreat is our launch party.
Jesse, my husband and a professional videographer, is going to film and live-stream the event. All you'll have to do is click a link to join the party. We have games to play (Book Title Scramble, Name That Cover, a make-a-bad title/bad cover competition, and more) with you on Facebook and Twitter, Q&As, and through all of it we'll be interacting with you live. Of course, launch parties have wine and chocolate, and we're giving that away, too!
We're also giving away over 100 books. Yes. 100. One hundred. You'll want to come just to win awesome books! We're giving away prize packs of our critique partners' books, books written by our agency/publishing house friends, books that inspired our writing, and books we would just love you to read. We're going to be releasing a list of the books we're giving away, so keep checking in to see!
If that wasn't enough to convince you, we're also going to be introducing you to the awesome authors who will be on the retreat with us, and you can ask them questions and get to hear about their work! Aside from Nikki and myself, we're thrilled to be welcoming:
Critically acclaimed Atria author Nicole Baart (THE BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS, SLEEPING IN EDEN, & more)
Quirk Books editor and author Blair Thornburgh
YA author multipublished in poetry/literary journals, Alex Yuschik
Faith writer and blogger Kelly Youngblood
YA author Delia Moran
Entangled author Tonya Kuper (ANOMALY)
MG and YA author Kiersi Burkhart
YA author, Month9Books editor, and sports writer Bethany Robison
and
New York Times bestseller, Tosca Lee (THE LEGEND OF SHEBA & more from Howard Books, & the Books of Mortals series with Ted Dekker).
We're so thrilled to have such a wonderful group of authors with us for the launch party, and we're so grateful to all of them for their support and time and effort in coming to help us celebrate. You'll definitely want to hear them talk about their work and get the chance to interact and have a great evening with them.
So when and how do you attend?
When: Monday, November 10, from 6-10pm central time.
Why: books, wine, chocolate, celebrating with Kate and Nikki
Where: Join the Facebook event here and watch the Twitter hashtag #YAlaunch to interact, and watch the live-stream (link to be announced).
Nikki and I would love to see you there! Our friends, families, and fellow writers have kept us going, and we would be thrilled to celebrate with you. We want this to be as much a giant book party as our launch party, so even if you don't know us, please feel free to come and meet awesome authors and win amazing books.
Please do tell your friends, share this post, and invite others to come! The event is open to the public and we'd love your help supporting awesome authors, fantastic books, and the writing community.
See you soon!
Much love,
Kate Brauning and Nikki Urang
Tweet: Want to win 100 books? Join @KateBrauning and @NikkiUrang's #YAlaunch party! http://ctt.ec/d3p9a+
Tweet: Want to hang out with YA authors, win books, wine, & chocolate? Join @KateBrauning & @NikkiUrang's #YAlaunch party! http://ctt.ec/91XNf+
Tweet: Excited for YA contemps HOW WE FALL & THE HIT LIST? Join @KateBrauning & @NikkiUrang's #YAlaunch party! http://ctt.ec/RJd9n+