Oh, yes, it's coming. 

TWILIGHT MOVIE PARTY WITH FAIRY TALE AUTHOR, CYN BALOG!

Thirsty for New Moon?  Join us as we watch Twilight on a big screen and meet Fairy Tale author, Cyn Balog.  With no more books about Bella and Edward to read, Fairy Tale can satisfy the cravings, with pixies and romance.

Registration is required.  This is a ticketed event.  $5 for the party ONLY or $18 for the party AND a signed copy of Fairy Tale by Cyn Balog.  If you purchase the party ticket only, you can upgrade to the party and book ticket later. 

Come on, Spider Monkey, you know you want to. 

SLEEPLESS, coming out July 13, 2010, is finally available for pre-order on Amazon.  In case you just, um, wanted to put it in your cart. Of course, if you want to wait and get it from your local Indie, I support you in that decision. :)

And even though GIMME FEVER isn't going to be available until 2011, some really quick person already added it to Goodreads (thank you ever-so-much!).  Add it to your to-read list? Please?

I returned from my Disney trip to find that FAIRY TALE was mentioned in this past Sunday's New York Times book review, along with books by Lisa Mantchev, Melinda Lo, and Aprilynne Pike. Very cool!

It looks like my third novel, coming out from Delacorte in 2011, is going to be a little something called GIMME FEVER:

When Gwendolyn “Dough” Reilly’s boyfriend and best friend Wish moves away in seventh grade, the only consolation she can find is in her family bakery’s donuts.  Now, it’s sophomore year, and Wish is coming back.  But in only three years, they’ve both changed—drastically.  She’s seriously overweight, and suddenly Wish is the most popular guy in school, and girls everywhere want him.  Dough has doubts that appearances don’t matter and that Wish can love her as she is, so she launches into a plan designed to keep them together.  That is, until she discovers that Wish’s gorgeous looks and charm might not be all they appear to be. 

I figure every teen author has to write a book that touches on self-esteem in their career, and this is mine.  It's funny and heartwarming, with a little paranormal action mixed in there, of course!

This Halloween, we will be going to Disneyworld!  We will be bringing the 3-year old.  And yes we are going to the Halloween Party.

I am hugely excited because Disney is love.  I love everything Disney.  More than you can know. More than I can express. However, I have only been to Disneyworld four times (Disneyland twice), the last time over 5 years ago, so I'm not exactly an expert. 

I am sure there are Disney experts out there, so please tell me... what is your favorite thing to do at Disney?  Your favorite memory, your favorite Disney tips, whatever.  I just want to talk about Disney and my real-life friends are sick of me.

I am over at the lovely Saundra Mitchell's blog today, telling my spooky, scary, horrific Halloween Story.  Before you click over, please be warned that it is NOT for the squeamish!

Also, you can win a really cool Halloween prize pack there, so even if  you ARE squeamish, you may want to brave it. 

This Saturday, I'll be signing books at the Barnes and Noble on Rte. 130 in Hamilton, NJ from 2-4.

Introducing PAYA, dedicated to bringing more YA to Pennsylvania!

This program was started by some fantabulous YA lovers in order to 1) share their love of YA with the state, AND 2) benefit libraries! 

They're planning a BIG Philadelphia event in 2010, but they'll be starting off with a benefit auction on livejournal on October 7th.  Watch the community ya2pa so that you can be involved in the fun!

Question:  Why do all the major bestselling paranormal YAs not have much humor in them? 

I'm talking:  TWILIGHT, EVERMORE, SHIVER, WINGS, HUNGER GAMES... etc.

Is it because YAs do not like to laugh?  Is it because these books are a better mirror of their humorless lives? Can a dark book have a humorous element?  Or does that make it more difficult to take serious? I know there are funny YA paranormals out there, but none of them seem to be as successful as their darker counterparts.  As someone who can not keep humor out of her books (I've tried), I'm curious.

Discuss.

One:

Donate Books to Places I Don't Like.  I buy books. I therefore need to donate them from time to time.  This time, however, I decided not to donate to the Bucks County Library System.  Why?  Because while the county as a whole does carry a couple copies of FAIRY TALE, my local library did not.  Even after I went there and introduced myself.  This is the one I pay taxes for.  Before you go saying, "Well, maybe it wasn't in their budget . . .", please know that I do understand budgeting issues with libraries; however, my local library stocks multiple copies of just about every other YA book out there; and I'm talking just about EVERY book.   After I politely brought the situation to their attention, hoping it was an oversight, they came back with, "Well, budgeting issues . . ."  It's sad, because I LOVE libraries. I would love to love MY library. Maybe there is a librarian out there that can explain this to me? Did they just really hate my book or something?

Two:

I am never paying attention to Bestseller lists again. I have limited time to read books, so lately I've just been picking up the books that have the most buzz, figuring that I need to appear knowledgeable for watercooler conversations. I have started-- and not finished-- just about every one of those books.  Bestseller lists are nothing more than a snapshot of what is out there as a whole, I guess-- some good stuff, some utter crap.  So I have decided to instead pick up books that sound interesting just based on the cover copy, not based on whether they're on the bestseller list.  I'd rather figure out what to read on my own instead of letting a publisher tell me what I should be reading.

Three:

Eat tofu.  Ew.


 

Here are the best things about the booksigning I did this weekend in Princeton:

1.  I got to meet devarae 's dad, and he was so nice.  He bought a copy of my book and I got to sign it to her.  This is like, the closest I have ever come to meeting a 2009 Deb in person (not counting mandywriter  of course).

2.  I got to sit in the sun and it was a beautiful day.

3.  I bought this book and this book for my daughter and she loves them.  As well as a bunch of books for myself that I can't wait to read (and it's always cool to have them signed by the author!)

4.  I got to meet fellow Jersey girl Megan McCafferty and delight in her smooth vocal stylings.

I am going to be signing books at the first ever Author! Author! Book Festival in Princeton, NJ in September!

There's going to be a lot of cool authors there, including Megan McCafferty, Lara Zeises, Lisa Tucker, Adriana Trigiani, Nancy Viau... and so many more!!  I will probably have to pretend to choke on a pretzel to get people to notice me. 

I apologize for the lack of quality posts lately.  Turns out I have one of those cranky babies who cries constantly unless I am holding her, and DO U NO HOW HA7RD IT IS TO TYP]E WHEN HLDING A NEW2BRN???

On Saturday the 8th I was in Stone Harbor, signing books with my fellow Jersey Girl friends, Nancy Viau, author of Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in her Head, and Keri Mikulski, author of Screwball and the upcoming ChangeUp. 



On the 15th I was signing at the Borders Express in Exton.  This store was super cool because they love YA and have a huge following of young adult readers, so it was especially nice to be there.  Here I am with Michelle, one of the managers at the store:



If you missed me, this Saturday, the 22nd, I will be signing books at the Borders Express in Park City Center in Lancaster, PA from 1-3. I would love to see you there!


 

I will be signing FAIRY TALE at the Borders Express in the Exton Square Mall in Exton, PA tomorrow from 1-3 pm.  Come join me?

Also, I heard this week that FAIRY TALE will be published in Germany, which of course, is one of my favorite countries. At least, now it is. ;)

Okay, back to copyedits for SLEEPLESS. 

My newest release, I will just call Breebee.  She made her first appearance on Saturday and is sure to be an instant hit:

Oh, and for the first time ever, here is the cover for my 2010 release, SLEEPLESS.  SLEEPLESS is a paranormal about a Sandman who falls in love with a mortal whose sleep he controls.

Hi there!  Just a little update from me regarding the whirlwind that has been my launch month.  I have some personal things going on right now, so I haven't been able to update as much as I would like.  But to all those who have emailed me with kind comments regarding FAIRY TALE:  Thank you!  I have responded to most of you and will be responding to the rest as soon as I can.  I can't tell you how much it means to me to hear from people that have liked my book.

Secondly, FAIRY TALE has been all over the country.  I am kind of jealous that it has been more places than I have. Thank you to everyone who has sent me pictures!  I am so happy that you've all been giving FAIRY TALE such a warm reception because... after only 3 weeks on the market, it's already in its THIRD printing! 

And even more importantly to me . . . and to my career . . . I have received numerous requests for a sequel to FAIRY TALE.  While it's not something I am considering right now, I am excited to announce that it looks like my second novel, SLEEPLESS, will be scheduled for Summer of 2010.  I just completed my major edits and things are looking good with it... which is so exciting.  I never dreamed I would ever have a book for sale in bookstores across the country... and the thought of having TWO is just beyond belief.  

Thank you so much for making this a real-life FAIRY TALE. :) 

Bad reviews. I have to remember, we all get them.  And yet, perhaps it is my Italian temper or perhaps it is that I'm 9 months pregnant (consider me to be Mrs. Jumbo and FAIRY TALE to be my little baby, my Dumbo) and my hormones are going nuts, but I can't resist entertaining the thought of replying.  My first thoughts as a response:

1)  Obviously the book is beyond you because from your review it seems quite apparent that you have missed the whole point of it. 

or

2) I'm just saying, some authors have mafia connections sworn to do anything to protect their family and whom the author has no control over.  They are very good at two things:  Finding "anonymous" people and breaking kneecaps. Notice how my book mentions Italian often and how I've sold foreign rights to Italy. Coincidence?  Perhaps.   But  you may want to ask yourself which is more important, negatively reviewing a book you hated, or your ability to walk.

or

3) Ah, you must be a disgruntled author who can't get a positive response from an agent, and you are taking it out on me. I am sorry. Keep submitting.  You will get there, and then I will give you a bad review for YOUR book.

or, simply,

4)  You are an idiot, not worth my time.

Ok, seriously, though, I often read bad reviews that authors receive and picture them cowering in a corner, completely paralyzed from the horror of the review.  Sometimes I even think that this is what a couple (few and far between, mind you) mean-spirited reviewers set out to do-- crush authors and their ability to ever churn out a new book, just for the fun of it-- they're the trolls of the literary set.  I recently received a VERY negative review from a librarian on Goodreads, one I didn't read closely, but said things such as "If I could give a book zero stars, it would be this one" and how she would never recommend it to any of her teens.  This didn't upset me too much, since the reviewer gave a slew of books which I LOVED horrible reviews as well. And really, I understand, my book won't float everyone's boat... not even the most honored and celebrated book does.  However, I sat there and thought to myself, "What would be a nice, benign, goofy, self-deprecating comment that I could leave for the reviewer to let them know that I had noted their review, and to let anyone who saw it know that I was taking it with a sense of humor?"  So I responded with, "So, you liked it, huh?"

Harmless, right?

Well, wrong.  This anonymous reviewer then edited her review to state that I was "posting catty comments."  Catty?  Um, no, catty would have been #4 on my list above.  I promptly apologized for giving her that notion that I was trying to be catty; however, I can't help feeling like I've been slandered.  She has basically accused me, on her review, of attacking her.  And all kidding aside, I appreciate negative reviews because most often I can see where the reviewer is coming from and it gives me something to go on for my next book.  But now readers will read her review and think that my response to negative comments is to come after these people in the dead of night.  That's a great image for an author to have, no?

In hindsight, I guess the old advice is best:  Bite your tongue, and resist.  Even your most benign attempt at a response can be twisted to make you look bad. It's tough because reviewers can remain anonymous and be as mean as they want... and unfortunately, YOU, as the author, do not have that luxury and have a bit of an image to maintain, even in the face of extreme criticism of your "baby". Consider it an occupational hazard of being an author.  Bind your fingers if you must, eat lots of chocolate, but whatever you do, don't respond.  I wish I hadn't.

This weekend was my book launch party at Southern Lehigh Public Library!  I had a great time and we sold out of books! 


Me, with cake. Oh, and my book.


The awesome cake thatjberkj got for me. Plus, fortune cookies!



Josh Berk, the author of The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin (Knopf, February 2010), who set this whole gig up for me (thank you so much!), Me, and Julie Slattery, a great writer I met at SCBWI NJ this month!

Also, after we sold out of books, I know a few people wanted to know where to get signed copies of Fairy Tale.  If you would like one, all you need to do is contact Harleysville Books and they will arrange to send one out to you.

And, the winners of my contest...

The (easy route) winner of the copy of PRADA AND PREJUDICE is p_sunshine !

The (path less traveled) winner of the autographed copy of FAIRY TALE, the copy of PRADA AND PREJUDICE, and the SPARKLY fortune cookie necklace is... 

Please email me your addresses to cyn@cynbalog.com by the end of the week and I will send you out your prizes!  Thanks so much to everyone for making my release week such a success!