Q&A: Tina From Chicken House Publishing

 

Hey Book Nerds! ^.^ Sorry about the delay of this post, I've been really busy for some reason and too tired to start typing up this post. Bad Tiffa! So, the other week I met up for a coffee with Tina, who works for Chicken House Publishing, and she was lovely enough to answer a few of my questions! :) I had a great time chatting with Tina about her work and about books in general. :3 Anyway, this is going to be a VERY long post, so grab a snack and hopefully you'll enjoy at least some of this interview. Don't forget to let me know your thoughts! :D Lastly, a big thanks to Caroline (@CazLFCGleek) for helping me come up with some of these questions! :)

 

Interview

• Q: What is it like to work in Chicken House or just the publishing industry in general?
  A: It's fantastic! I get to see every process of the books we print; from the manuscript to print! It's great to see the journey and see it being created step-by-step. Usually, if you were working in a larger publishing company, you wouldn't get to see all the different stages. Also, If there are movie adaptations of the books we publish, it’s great fun to be part of the excitement for the upcoming film, especially knowing we published the original book.

• Q: What is the atmosphere at work like?
  A: There's a lot of tea drinking! We ordered a huge bag of teabags, I'm pretty sure there's enough to last us three more years. It's really fun and creative in a way; it's also a lot of hard work! It sometimes feels like you're on a treadmill, running as fast as you can, but not getting anywhere. But it's got a great atmosphere.

• Q: I know Chicken House generally publishes books for younger readers, is there a particular reason for this?
  A: Mainly because it's so popular! Now days, lots of authors are just writing YA and children's books because the popularity of them has increased. You seem to see YA and Children's books everywhere you go now days, and it's great to be able to publish some of them!

• Q: I know a lot of adults still read YA novels; do you like to read the ones you publish?
  A: Yes! Definitely! The market for YA isn't just for teens anymore. The average age group of people who read YA now days are between the ages of 22-34. Two of my colleagues especially inhale YA books constantly!

• Q: Are you spotting any new trends in book genres lately?
  A: Definitely Dystopia. I think Dystopian Fiction’s popularity seems to come in waves. One minute you hear that it’s the next thing big thing. The next minute it’s apparently ‘dead’. But at the moment it’s a pretty popular genre...

• Q: What are your relationships like with the authors?
  A: The authors are really close with their editors, but we're really close to them as well! This is mainly because we all care about their book, and want to see it through to the very end. We're also very involved with organising publicity for them, by sending emails and parcels out. I know they appreciate all the work we put into it, we even get acknowledged in their books sometimes!

• Q: What is the most rewarding thing about working in publishing?
  A: Hearing what books mean to people is extremely rewarding! It's easy to get caught up in work and forget the reader until the last minute and then we start getting praise and hear how reading affects people. I also love how we have the ability to help turn kids to reading, it's fantastic.

• Q: How many submissions do you receive on average per month from authors?
  A: Well, about two years ago we stopped receiving unsolicited work from authors. If you include the competitions we hold for aspiring new authors; probably over 100 submissions each month.

• Q: Are there any genres you desperately want authors to send to you?
  A: We're always on the lookout for books from the 7-10 age group. I believe it's a very challenging and tough age group to write about, and authors at the moment tend to follow to the wave of current releases. There's no genre in particular, but I'd love to be able to read more submissions from that category.

• Q: Do you think children are reading more of less than in previous years?
  A: Unfortunately I think it's probably gone down recently. There seems to be a lot of annoying talk that 'boys don't read', which I think isn’t true! There's also a lot more competition in todays society, along with school pressure and other general stress. It's such a shame!

• Q: Are there certain things you hate in books?
  A: I really don't like clichés. A lot of authors nowadays want to create characters that are different, so they think, 'what's different?', and the come up with a red headed, feisty female protagonist or a boy with a lopsided grin and two different colour eyes. I feel like a lot of the characters I've read about lately are just so alike and usually very gangly - I think we need some different characters with unique personalities.

• Q: And finally, do you have any advice for aspiring new authors/writers?
  A: Be a reader, not just a writer! I've often come across authors who write because they want to 'teach' children - I don't think this is a good way to make your mark. If you want to set out to teach people something, do it subtly, and don't shove it in their faces! Just start writing; you're not a writer until you actually write. And finally, write for your inner self and just keep going! :)

 

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Another big thanks to Tina for answering all my questions! Let me know your opinions and thoughts on any of the questions raised in this Q&A. ^.^ Happy Reading! (:

Book Blitz: Obscura Burning by Suzanne Rooyen & Giveaway

Thank you Xpresso Book Tours for hosting this feature!

Title: Obscura Burning.
Author: Suzanne van Rooyen.
Publication Date: December 7th, 2012.
Publisher: Etopia Press.
Genres: Sci-Fi, Young Adult.
Format: Paperback & eBook, 300 pages.

Purchase

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The world's going to end in fire...and it's all Kyle's fault.

Kyle Wolfe's world is about to crash and burn. Just weeks away from graduation, a fire kills Kyle's two best friends and leaves him permanently scarred. A fire that Kyle accidentally set the night he cheated on his boyfriend Danny with their female friend, Shira. That same day, a strange new planet, Obscura, appears in the sky. And suddenly Kyle's friends aren't all that dead anymore.

Each time Kyle goes to sleep, he awakens to two different realities. In one, his boyfriend Danny is still alive, but Shira is dead. In the other, it's Shira who's alive...and now they're friends with benefits. Shifting between realities is slowly killing him, and he's not the only one dying. The world is dying with him. He's pretty sure Obscura has something to do with it, but with his parents' marriage imploding and realities shifting each time he closes his eyes, Kyle has problems enough without being the one in charge of saving the world...

 

About Suzanne van Rooyen

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Suzanne is a freelance writer and author from South Africa. She currently lives in Finland and finds the cold, dark forests nothing if not inspiring. Suzanne is the author of the cyberpunk novel Dragon’s Teeth (Divertir), the YA science fiction novel Obscura Burning (Etopia) and has had several short stories published by Golden Visions Magazine, Space and Time and Niteblade. Niteblade nominated her short story Where dreams are grown for the Pushcart Prize. Her non-fiction articles on travel, music and other topics can be found scattered throughout the Internet. Although she has a Master’s degree in music, Suzanne prefers conjuring strange worlds and creating quirky characters. When not writing you can find her teaching dance to ninth graders or playing in the snow with her shiba inu.
Suzanne is represented by Jordy Albert of the Booker Albert Agency.

 

Excerpt

Closing my eyes, I imagine New Mexico burning, can almost smell it, the pungent pine, fireball mesquite, and smouldering cacti. I should be worried about the damage the UV’s doing to my scars, but after tonight, none of that will matter. Just when you think it can’t possibly get any hotter or the mercury will explode, the temperature rises just a few more degrees. Today, Coyote’s Luck lies in a simmering mirage, hotter than any hell imaginable.

The crush of mesquite huddling between the tombstones offers little respite from the sun. Sticking to the dappled shade, I thread my way toward Danny’s grave. I’m not alone.
She looks like a ghost with the white sundress fanning around her legs, her long black hair teased by the warm breeze. For a moment, I think it’s one of the ch’iindi made flesh, until she turns at the sound of my step.

Gabriela, her face a teary-eyed frown. She folds her arms and returns her gaze to the grave. When did she get so thin? She was always so voluptuous, a shorter, less saggy version of her mother. Now she looks more like a sixteen-year-old kid, barely there in layers of cotton.
We stand in silence, both just staring at the grave. The rosaries dangle over the stone, tied in knots around the stems of already dead flowers. There’s a white and blue beaded one, the one that was attached to Danny’s bed, the one he’d kiss at night before going to sleep.
“I miss him so much,” Gabriela says eventually.
“So do I.”
“I blame you, you know.” She casts me a sidelong glance.
“Maybe you should.”
She nods and sniffs and fingers one of the blooms turned brown by the heat.
“Dead, all of it.” She tears the petals from the stalk. “Little Maria, now Daniel.” She turns her dark eyes on me, searching for something I wish I could give her.
“This is killing my parents. Daniel was their only son. They’ll never have more children. Once, I had a brother. Now I’m alone. Sister to dead siblings.”
That’s the most Gabriela’s ever said, to me at least. I’m stunned into uncomfortable silence. There’s nothing I can say that’ll make it right. But tonight, maybe there’ll be something I can do.
“I wish I could make it right.” My words sound so pathetic.
She harrumphs and digs her sandaled toe into the dirt. “Nothing can make Daniel dying right.”
“I’m sorry.” There is nothing else I can say without trying to explain the whole confusing story and Gabriela’s not the type to believe in rifts in reality. “Tell Daniel you’re sorry. He’s the one who died because of you.” She takes a deliberate step away from me, crosses herself, offering prayers in Spanish to the ether.
“I loved him, you know.” Maybe I am to blame, but she makes it sound like I don’t give a crap that he’s dead.
“Obviously not enough.”

 

Author Interview

1. Do you judge a book by its cover?
All the time. That’s not to say that all my judgements are accurate but a book cover is really important. If I’m standing in a store torn between two books of equal price with equally interesting blurbs, I’ll certainly take the one with the nicer cover - that’s just the way it is.

2. Is there a series you'll read over and over again and never get tired of?
Series? No. I’m not really into series. I find myself often reading the first book and never further. I may make exceptions for trilogies and I’ll have to see how it goes with The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater before changing my mind on book series.

3. What are two of your favorite fictional worlds that you'd like to see together?
Wow - that’s tough. Merging two worlds. Hm... I think Capt. Jack Harkness from Dr Who and Torchwood could just about take on anything and anyone so I’d like to see him take on some comic book heroes. I reckon Capt. Jack should make a guest appearance in The Avengers or X-Men - get Torchwood on the hunt for Magneto or Loki. That could be fun!

4. If you could meet a fictional character, who would it be and why?
It’s a tie between Capt. Jack Harkness and Morpheus, the Sandman and King of Dreams. Capt. Jack because he is awesome and has seen the future and would be infinitely interesting to talk to and Morpheus because he lives inside people’s dreams - I think he’d have a unique perspective on the human condition.

5. How do you feel about book to movies or book to TV shows?
Love them when they’re done well, which isn’t all that often. I’m a bit of purist tending to prefer the book to adaptation but I’m the first to admit that movies like Stardust and Coraline are fantastic and actually improve upon the original books. I think all the Nicholas Sparks movies have been an improvement on the books but the one that wins hands down is The Vampire Diaries. I could never get into the books despite trying more than once. The TV series however? Yeah I’m a total Damon Salvatore fangirl.

6. How many unread books do you have? On your TBR list?
Hundreds. I add more than I can ever hope to read but at least it gives me options. I love the sample function on Amazon - makes life easier being able to scroll through samples on my Kindle and get a taste for the book before purchasing it.

7. What's your favorite book this year?
I read this in November last year but it remains a favorite: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion. A totally unexpected and brilliant book about zombies. I hope the film adaptation will do it justice!

8. Ebooks or physical books? Which do you prefer?
Ebooks - more practical, lighter, easier to travel with and they save a hell of a lot of shelf space.

 

Giveaway!

One lucky winner will win:

• 1 autographed paperback of Obscura Burning.


• 1 ebook of Dragon's Teeth (epub, mobi or pdf).


• 1 $10 Gift Card for Amazon.


• 3 surprise items from each of the main characters.

• International residents may enter.


• Contest ends January 31st, 2013.

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