I know I’ve talked about writing and publishing before, but today I’m not talking about getting started in this business.  I’m talking about surviving in it.  Two very different things.

So much has changed in the six years since we sold my first book.  Six years.  Somehow it feels much longer.  After all, Cheating at Solitaire was a midlist chick lit novel published in chick lit’s darkest days.  I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You was a YA published before all the soccer moms fell in love with Edward Cullen. 

Trends come.  People go.  And I feel very much like an “old timer” these days—so much so that I feel obliged to gather you all around…

And warn you about The Crazies.

What are The Crazies?
Earlier this year I went to dinner with some other writers at a conference.  It was a beautiful night, and we all sat at a table outside, talking about The Crazies.

The Crazies are a hard thing to define, but most of us have had them—the what if this book sucks, what if this book tanks, what if my career is over, what if my career never really starts anxiety that comes with this business. 

Now, many new writers might think that The Crazies go away after the first book, or after you hit “the list” or after…or after...  And maybe they will diminish someday or at some time, but I can safely say that six years, seven books, five New York Times bestsellers and two major motion picture deals later, my Crazies are still here and stronger than ever.

Crazies Management: what not to do
I don’t know where The Crazies come from exactly, but I suspect they have their root in insecurity and are magnified by helplessness. 

After all, once a book is finished, writers have very little control over its success or failure.  And still we want to DO SOMETHING, so many writers try to fill that void with promotion and “networking” and Google.  So much Google.

I am as guilty of this as the next person—probably more guilty than many.  But I am also certain that The Crazies are the disease.  Blogs and Twitter and Google are a few of the drugs we do to dull its pain.

But drugs are just that…drugs.  And obsessing over Goodreads reviews or Twitter chatter will only make The Crazies worse.  Much, much worse, largely because it is a cycle. 

Someone will always be getting more exposure.  Someone will always have a better cover or more Facebook friends or be getting Twitter replies from “cooler” people.

Do not be confused.  The danger in these “drugs” lies not in what they can do to the YA genre.  The danger is what they can do to YA writers.

Writers.

Individuals.

People.

If you’re worried that all of this talking and twittering and blogging is going to hurt YA, don’t.  That’s like saying that people really into fantasy football have the potential to hurt the NFL.

The genre is going to be fine because for every writer who is currently medicating their crazies by obsessing about the online YA world there are 10 or 20 or 200 who are out there…writing.  And those will be the people who are creating the trends that don’t exist yet. 

Those are the writers who hold the future of the genre in their hands.

The Crazies: how to fight them
Lesson #1 in Crazies Management is simple:  Don’t worry about what (or how) other people are doing. 

The number of Twitter followers you have is an indication of how many people are following you on Twitter.  The quantity and quality of the blog reviews you’re receiving is an indicator of how much bloggers like your book.

An author’s online presence (or lack thereof) is not a predictor of success.

Suzanne Collins doesn’t even have a real website.  To my knowledge, she isn’t best buds with Rowling or Meyer or King.  She did not “network” her way into Hunger Games.  She wrote Hunger Games.

Your career will be determined by the books you write, too.

Lesson #2 is just as big:  Friends don’t let friends have The Crazies.

I’ve heard the complaint a lot lately that the YA community is like a high school.  That we’re essentially broken up into cool kids and geeks and there’s some kind of social hierarchy. 

Well, I think that if more YA authors seem to be friendly it’s not because YA writers are cliquish: it’s because more YA authors are friends.

I have met some of the best friends of my life since I started writing YA fiction.  These people are important to me not because of the blurb I can get or the blurbs I can give.  Not because there’s some sales bump that happens every time Holly Black @-replies me on Twitter.

These people matter to me because they care about me and I care about them.

These are the sponsors who help me battle The Crazies. 

The sheer fact that these friends live all over the world means that we tend to do a lot of our “hanging out” online.  Twitter is our watercooler.  It’s also merely the tip of the friendship iceberg.  After all, I talk on the phone with Jennifer Lynn Barnes almost every day.

Does that make us cliquish?  I don’t know.  Frankly, I don’t care. 

And as long as your corner of the online social world is about friendship and not “networking” or “getting your name out there” or climbing some nonexistent social ladder, then I am going to say something really controversial:  friendship is good.

Living with The Crazies
Will my Crazies ever go away?  Maybe.  But I think the easiest way for the Crazies to subside is if you have a very solid prediction of what is going to happen.  But I don’t want my career to be stagnant.  I don’t want to keep doing the exact same thing in the exact same way to the exact same results. 

As long as I keep taking chances I think those chances will keep worrying and stressing and freaking me out. 

And I think that’s a price I am more than willing to pay.

-Ally

Long-time blog readers know all about my love of Dancing With the Stars—how I absolutely adore the music and the costumes, the glitz and the glamour.  But it’s more than just that.  I also love the general spirit of the show--people learning, growing, and challenging themselves to move out of their comfort zones and try new things. 

And yes, I'll admit it, I love dancing.  Am I any good?  Probably not.  But that hasn't stopped me from fantasizing and joking about my newfound goal of being asked to compete on Dancing With the Stars.  And every year I blog and tweet about this goal--this fantasy.  And every year, the dream is dashed--dashed, I say!

But every year, I must admit, I have another (actually realistic) hope that someday an author will be considered as much a “star” as Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino.

Now here we are at Season Eleven, and (by my calculations) 126 "stars" have donned the sequins and the spray tans but not a one of them has ever been an author.

(Note I'm not including Dancing celebrities who have, at some point, had a book deal. For the purposes of this discussion, Nora Roberts, Stephen King, and Daniel Silva are authors.  Kate Gosselin is not.)

One hundred and twenty-six celebrities.  The break-down (for those of you keeping track at home) is something like this:

I like to think that the lack of authors on that list is just an oversight--an untapped resource--and not an out-and-out snub. And, of course, I am not privy to their brainstorming sessions or wish lists.  Perhaps they send an envoy to Scotland every year in hopes of luring J.K. Rowling out of her castle.  Maybe the producers have Stephen King's publicist on speed dial.

After all, it's not that the people behind Dancing aren't willing to try new things.  For that, I commend them.  (Ty Murray, Season Eight, was an inspired choice and a personal favorite.)  I just have to wonder how and why after eleven seasons not a single author has made the cut.

Perhaps the thinking is that authors aren't true "celebrities" and don’t really play a role in the world of pop culture.  Well, writers created True Blood, Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Percy Jackson and Bones—not to mention the twin juggernauts of Twilight and Harry Potter.  What have Melissa Rycroft, Ashley Hamilton, and Jake Pavelka given us?

But writers don’t have the overzealous fanbase or niche appeal of past contestants, some might say.  Well, it’s a fact that Rick Riordan and Jeff Kinney will each draw crowds of 1,000+ screaming tweens whose parents drive for hours to see them and only them; can Cody Linley and Kyle Massey say that?

I suppose many will say that the powers behind Dancing must be concerned with ratings and if they can’t get an author who is also a household name like Stephenie Meyer or James Patterson then no mere author could be “big” enough.  But how many Americans do you think had ever heard the names Nichole Scherzinger, Mark Dacascos, and Gilles Marini prior to their Dancing seasons? 

Maybe the perception is that writers are stuffy, and introverted and...well...boring.  To this I give you Meg Cabot, Charlaine Harris, and Janet Evanovich--all big personalities writing big books.  I also give you Tom DeLay.

I'd be willing to accept the logic that most writers sit at computers all day, and serious, competitive dancing is grueling work, so contestants have to be in top physical condition...were it not for Cloris Leachman.

If it were a matter of looking good in flashy costumes I'd willingly concede except for two things: NYT Bestseller Emily Giffin is a knockout and Steve Wozniak...isn't.

Jersey Shore and "The Situation" are hot right now.  Neil Gaiman has been hot for decades.

Not everyone who is asked to be on Dancing With the Stars has everything they look for in a contestant.  And I’m not willing to accept that the reason an author has never made the cut is because there is no author who is also a beautiful, athletic, A-list megacelebrity.  To my knowledge, very few (if any) DWTS contestants have ever fit that bill from any field.

Everyone who comes to DWTS comes with a story, a challenge and a niche.  Some will be virtual unknowns who have minds that are trained to memorize choreography and bodies built to wear next to nothing; a few will be sentimental favorites while others are best described as ratings goldmines. Or trainwrecks.

Through the years we've had a race car driver, a rodeo legend, and an ultimate fighter, two entrepreneurs, a politician and an astronaut. Not everyone is a Pussy Cat Doll.  And if there's one thing that makes me proud of the DWTS producers it's that not everyone has to be.

What I don't understand is how and why no author has ever found a place on the roster before.

Sure, many authors don't want to wear sequins and dance on TV. And there is no denying that, as a group, we are far more awkward and shy than actors and pop stars are bound to be.  But that’s not to say that there isn’t someone who would embrace the spirit of the show and be a great ambassador for books.

And my hope?  My hope is that in Season 12 we will see some brave and lucky author do exactly that.

Keep on reading (and dancing!)

-Ally

PS:  If anyone out there wants to counter that authors just aren't controversial (or entertaining) enough, I give you Lauren Myracle, the most banned author in America, doing this:

Hi everybody!

Do you know what today is?  Hint: it's a very exciting day...

That's right, today the voting opens for the Teens' Top 10 Award from the American Librarian Association (btw, this is a different award/poll from the one that's been going on all summer in Canada, the Teen Reads Awards.)

If you're a teen and you like to read then I highly recommend checking out this post that explains all about the voting.  Then I would love it if you'd click on over to this site where you can exercise your right as a teen reader--and vote!  (And you don't even have to feel guilty if you don't vote for Heist Society.  I'd be happy if you'd all just vote...for someone.)

And, of course, while you're there, you should totally take a long look at that list because there are some great books nominated this year and I'd wager that that will be a great place to discover new writers and series to tide you over for a while.

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone at the American Library Association and, specifically, the people behind the Teens' Top 10 Award for nominating Heist Society and putting it with such fine company.

Thanks all, and happy reading (and voting!)

Ally

Hi everyone!

I know from chatting with you guys at signings, reading emails, checking blog comments (among other things) that a lot of you out there reading this post right now are interested in maybe writing a novel someday.

I even know that some of you have already started on this journey.  Some have just started dipping a toe in the water to see how it feels.  But whether you're well on your way or just starting out, the question of how do I write a novel is one that we hear a lot around here.

Now, I've tried to offer advice on the subject from time to time, but I don't think I've ever tackled the whole, big question because...well...it was too big.

Fortunately, literary agent Nathan Bransford just did exactly that, so your task for today is to go read what he has to say on the subject.

Thanks and happy reading (and writing!)

Ally