Yesterday I received this glorious vase of flowers from my boss/agent Laurie McLean and I promised to tell you why today. I wanted to wait until Publisher’s Marketplace posted my deal but alas, it twas not to be because I am an impatient wench and I will wait no longer.

After two months of being an agent I have sold my first book. Three books actually, it is a trilogy (maybe I can convince the author to call it a saga like all the cool kids are doing now, or maybe not.) and it sold to the fabulous Liz at Entangled.

Here is pretty much what the actual PM announcement will say:
Cecily White’s Angel Academy: Prophecy Girl about a girl who is the center of a prophecy that states she is destined to kill everyone she loves and the subsequent sequels to Liz Pelliter at Entangled Publishing in a nice deal, in a three book deal, for publication in 2013, by Pam van Hylckama Vlieg at Larsen Pomada Literary Agents.

You can visit my client Cecily on her website, or her Twitter to congratulate her on her series!

Thank you all for believing in me and especially thank you to Laurie who has taught me so much and continues to mentor me long past the point of normal training.

• Picture Books – author/illustrators only
• YA – contemporary, science fiction.
• MG/Tween – contemporary, fantasy, action/adventure.
• Romance – historical, paranormal, urban fantasy

Send your query, synopsis, and first ten pages to: querypamvhv@gmail.com

Steve BerrySFCHSflyer4

These are things I want desperately-
Romance – historical
MG – ALL THE MG GIVE ME YOUR MG *shakes fist*
YA – contemporary. Think Anna and the French Kiss and anything by Holly Cupala.

This is not a test. Click the submissions tab above and submit to my superior arm wrestling skills.

I’ve been planning on reading your books. I’ve heard your creativity is second to none and that Ender was a hero for the masses. I’ve also heard that you are really awesome at book signings and seem to really care about your fans. I was going to spend a substantial amount of money on your backlist and read everything before your beloved-to-many movie version of Enders Game hit the theatres.

When I first heard about your homophobia I was unaware how severe it is. I even wrote about you in a post about authors and how accessible they are in the digital age and how I would probably still read your stuff. But you didn’t stop there. You have repeatedly and vehemently used your status as a top notch author to boast your personal beliefs about family and gay rights. The latest flash of venom made me feel actual concern for you… a person I haven’t ever met. The paranoia and outright lies bothered me deeply.

As the mother of two children and a humanist I take a lot of time to teach my children right and wrong, and yes it is subjective. And yes I am teaching them my own set of moral rules, but I don’t foist my extreme left views on others, and I hope that one day my children grow up to have their own ideals and I hope kindness is among them.

When my kids ask me questions about homosexuality I am open and honest with them.

“Why does so and so have two moms?”

“Well, some people have two moms, or two dads, or no parents at all and a granddad or a grandmom. Some kids live in the foster system, or are orphaned and the thing that makes humans amazing is all of our differences from the very large to the very small.”

I also teach them that homophobia is a phobia. As in a disease.

homophobia |ˌhōməˈfōbēə|
noun
an extreme and irrational aversion to homosexuality and homosexual people.
DERIVATIVES
homophobe |ˈhōməˌfōb| noun
homophobic |-ˈfōbik| adjective
ORIGIN 1960s: from homosexual + -phobia .

homosexual |ˌhōməˈsek sh oōəl|
adjective
(of a person) sexually attracted to people of one’s own sex.
• involving or characterized by sexual attraction between people of the same sex : homosexual desire.
noun
a person who is sexually attracted to people of their own sex.
DERIVATIVES
homosexuality |-ˌsek sh oōˈalitē| noun
homosexually adverb
ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from homo- ‘same’ + sexual .

Those are the dictionary references from my desktop dictionary on my Macbook Pro. Mr. Card, you have a severe case of homophobia.

There’s no need to legalize gay marriage. I have plenty of gay friends who are committed couples; some of them call themselves married, some don’t, but their friends treat them as married. Anybody who doesn’t like it just doesn’t hang out with them.

I have a lot of gay friends too. I have a lot of transgender friends and my children are exposed to all types of sexuality, religion, and colors. I know that my gay friends would like to be married, and have rights. Everything you say in your article is a falsehood. Sure, the partner of a gay man can go to the hospital… until a family member tells the hospital he can’t, because he isn’t family.

I guess what I don’t understand is why? What is it that makes you campaign so hard against gay rights? Why is it this ONE thing you’ve decided to take a stand against, couldn’t your massive amount of influence do something more? Here are some suggestions:

1 in 4 children in America are hungry. Right now.
The genocide in Darfur is so important, can you make people aware of it?
The occupy movement is important in its own way.

Surely any of these things are more worthy of your time and attention than whether or not gay people get married. And what of your legacy? Hundreds of years from now when this issue is being looked at in history class you will be considered one of the people in the extreme wrong. Aren’t you ashamed of how we treated Native Americans and Blacks? Because I sure as hell am and I am just as ashamed right now with the way we are treating gays as second class citizens when they bleed red just as you and I do.

So please, find a more positive way to use your influence and time. You have actually succeeded in making sure that I will never read your books. I wonder how many other people have been turned off from your literature by your tirades?

I know that not everyone has the same views as I do. I understand that I am pretty left leaning and the fact that others aren’t is okay with me. I don’t feel the need to stamp those with other views down and I don’t feel the need to suppress a whole group of humans.

Best,
A lost loyal reader

1. Look at all the books in your genre that came out from all the different publishers around the same time your book came out. Chances are they are in the same boat as you. Interview them, let those authors write a guest post. Bond over your savvy indoor slides. Market each other to your readers.

2. Now that you’ve made friends each of you offer up one of your books for an epic contest. You can all use the same Rafflecopter code on each of your sites. SEVEN BOOKS ABOUT ALIENS IN ONE UNEARTHLY PRIZE PACK OF DOOM!!

3. Consider looking for and joining collaboration blogs in your genre. Be at relevant tweet chats when you can.

4. Talk to your local booksellers. A LOT. Let them know you are willing anytime to be tacked on to relevant events so that there is more than one author and that makes it fun.

5. Reach out to book clubs in your area and online and through indie bookstores everywhere. Offer a free Skype session to any book club that chooses your book.

And after all of that, you should probably work on writing your next book. Do you guys have any other tips or tricks?

So this is pretty much the places we know for sure we want to hit on our summer road trip. What I need is some help with the following:

Great places around these places that we don’t want to miss (Marco likes photography)
Places to spend the night or eat (We need a crib for le bebe)
Any travel advice for 3 and under

Plagiarism is wrong. Plain and simple. As I work in publishing my sympathy and support will always be with that of the content copyright holder. Always. I’ve never been plagiarized so I don’t know the righteous indignity that goes along with that. I imagine that I wouldn’t be too soft on the person who stole my work.

I have this website and the .org website that has contributors. My pledge to you is that I will always be vigilant about what is being posted on these sites and if anything is ever shady I will deal with the problem immediately.

I don’t like what has happened. I don’t like the extra stigmata being brought on the YA community. Hell, I even considered closing my own blog because I just can’t take the negativity. I have built my brand for four years and I refuse to take the cowardly way out, my blogs will go on and on just like a Celine Dion song. In fact I will task my children to continuing them after I die if they want my money.

I am sorely disappointed in the people who are leaving rash and vile comments on the blogs involved. I am aghast that people are sending them hateful emails and harassing them. If you have done either of these things know that you have lost my respect.

For someone who has made no talk about or was involved directly with this issue I have been accused of a lot of things. Please know that I do not condone or support any of the behavior listed below or any of the comments in support of this behavior (even those that my friends and family have made with or without my knowledge).

I hope that we can all discuss plagiarism and ways to effectively not do so, even accidentally and learn from this travesty. If any of you want to speak privately my email is info@bookalicio.us. I will be glad to answer any questions you may have about the issue.

I apologize if my silence has made you think less of me, or if it has made you think I am sympathetic to a cause. That is simply not the truth.

So anyway intro Banksy (whom you may watch grow up on Facebook. Yes he has a page. His quote about this? “Bitch I am fabulous.”) He is a blessing and a curse. He has taken my writing time but has given me a zen I haven’t had in years. I just wanted to share some pics of him and let you d’awwww with me at my luck. It is like having a new baby in the house and I love him dearly.