Thoughts on Zed's release and a look at the cover of my new YA novel.
YES I AM PROMOTING TWO BOOKS RIGHT NOW AND IT FEELS VERY NATURAL AND EASY
Hi and, if you’re in NYC, Happy First Day of School! Katie and I are now parents of a middle schooler, and it’s a surreal feeling. Time, man.
Meanwhile, Zed Moonstein’s been out for more than a week, and I have to begin with a resounding note of thanks and gratitude to everyone who’s been shouting about the book and buying the book and even reading the book.
In all the release hubbub and promotion, I kind of forgot that a book release means people I know and love would start engaging with this story I wrote. And that’s been absolutely lovely. Thanks to those of you who have sent me sweet messages and texts about your Zed reading experience, it’s the most meaningful thing.
Also meaningful: once you’ve read, pop over to Amazon and Goodreads and leave a quick review. It can seriously be tiny, like: “This book rules!” As I mentioned last week, the algorithm needs to be fed reviews and ratings in order to motivate it to spread the word. So go feed that rascally algorithm some delicious reviews! I will be Infinitely Grateful.
My first Zed Moonstein event happened last weekend at Thunder Road Books in Spring Lake, NJ, and it was such a good time. Huge thanks to Kate and Mia at Thunder Road and to everyone who showed up! Here are some photos, including me and Katie, and my dear pal (and MTiH interviewee #8) Zack Wagman demonstrating the proper number of copies to buy from your local independent bookstore. (5!)
And here are some clips from a musical exercise I led to show kids that human creativity will always be better and infinitely more fun than AI. (Stellar cinematography and vocal support by Katie Schorr.)
The NYC launch event is this Saturday, 9/6 at 3 PM at Books of Wonder. There will be more creativity shenanigans along with me having a conversation about Zed with one of my favorite authors, Corey Ann Haydu. All ages welcome! And we’ll be signing books! Plus, I’ll be giving out Zed bookmarks, stickers, and pens!
If you already have Zed, come anyway and buy one of Corey’s books! Or another book! As long as you buy someone’s book. That’s the rule (well, my rule) of local independent bookstores—always buy something. (Unless you don’t have money to buy books right now, in which case, don’t worry about it, and you should still come!)
Last piece of Zed business: I’M HITTING THE SCHOOL VISIT CIRCUIT! I still have some availability in the fall, so reach out to discuss ASAP at my author email: lancerubinparty@gmail.com.
And now with all that Zed talk out of the way, let me gracefully shift into telling you about my NEXT book, 16 Forever, coming out in January!
As I’ve mentioned, the promotion part of writing books does not come naturally to me, so it’s hilarious that I have two new books to promote within six months. I am so grateful, don’t get me wrong, but seeing as my last solo book, Crying Laughing, came out almost six years ago, it’s so funny that Zed and 16 Forever have timed out this way.
The cover of 16 Forever has actually been on the internet since July, but I didn’t want Zed to feel bad by talking about it before his release. Also, promoting two books at once overwhelmed me, so I froze and didn’t do it. But now THE TIME HAS COME. Curtain, please.
So…I have a new YA novel! It’s called 16 Forever, and it’s a romantic, funny, mind-bendy book about a kid named Carter Cohen who’s stuck forever at age sixteen. Every time he’s about to turn seventeen, he wakes up sixteen again instead—physically and mentally, not remembering a single thing that happened the past year. The rest of the world moves on, but Carter…always stays the same.
Let’s lift that curtain a little. (Isn’t this a cute bit?) (Don’t answer if you disagree.)
(Ooh, what is that enticing question I see some of? Something about TIME?)
When the book starts, it’s Carter’s sixth time turning sixteen. So he should be twenty-two…but he’s not. And his younger brother Lincoln should be thirteen…but he’s nineteen. And in college.
(Look at these cute little people!)
One of the most fun parts of writing this book was that it’s my first dual-POV—we also follow Maggie Spear, the seventeen-year-old who Carter was dating during his last loop. Once his birthday comes and he forgets everything—including Maggie—she decides she can’t be with him again, can’t go through the pain of starting over.
(Look at those delightful sprinkles!)
As you might remember from some of my past posts, writing this book has not been a breeze. This unique year-long time loop construction—more Eternal Sunshine than Groundhog Day—proved to be rather unwieldy at times. After my editor David Linker read the first draft, he felt (accurately) like it fell apart in the second half. After my next thorough rewrite, he felt (again accurately) like it fell apart in the last third. And then, a couple of more rewrites later, we finally agreed the book NO LONGER FALLS APART. And I actually am proud to say the second half might be even stronger than the first. HARD WORK PAYS OFF, KIDS.
And, without further ado, here it is in its entirety (surrounded by a yellow border which is not part of it):
I really love this cover, designed by Catherine Lee, Jessie Gang, and Alison Klapthor. I love the colors. And Carter and Maggie. And the cake!
16 Forever comes out January 6th! Which…I know. But I quickly realized that it’s actually the perfect way to reclaim this date because LOOK:
16 Forever is coming out on 1/6! 16!!!!! Did HarperCollins plan this on purpose? Sure! Let’s assume they did.
If you are the most supportive person in the world, pre-order 16 Forever now from your local independent bookstore. As always, if you get it from my indie Community Bookstore, I’ll personalize it for you once it comes out and throw in whatever mind-blowing swag I’ve created.
Many more reminders about this book to come!
Thank you for reading. Thank you for supporting my writing. Thank you for all of it.
I hope you’re having a solid September so far. Much love. And please leave Zed an Amazon review when you can. Once I hit 50 reviews, I will write a celebratory song and send it to all of you.
Love the new YA cover!