Kim Vandervort's Blog

Hi friends and fans!

It's been a while since I've updated. Quite a lot has happened personally and professionally in the past few months. I'm happy to say that I am planning on laying down the outline for the third book in the Song series this fall, and hope to start the real dirty work of draft writing by December.

I know it's been a wait to hear more about Ki'leah and friends, but I promise you, I will make it worth your while! :)

Love,

Kim

Outcast is here!

To celebrate, I’m offering a one-time opportunity for my fans to purchase an official signed, numbered, first edition copy, delivered directly to your home, office, evil overlord lair, or otherwise designated location.

But wait! There’s more!

For this limited-time promotion, my publisher, Hadley Rille Books, has agreed to offer the book for $13.00, which is 20% off the cover price. In addition, we are also offering signed copies of my first two novels, The Song and the Sorceress and The Northern Queen for 20% off. Hooray!

 

Can you get a copy at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble online for 20% off? Maybe.

 

Can you get a signed copy at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble for 20% off? No! That’s why this is such a great deal!

 

The details:

 

Because this is a limited time offer and to receive orders in time for the holidays, all orders must be received no later than November 3rd, 2013. Books will be signed and numbered according to when the order arrives in my email box. The first person to order will receive book #1, the second book #2, and so on. The series will be limited to the number of orders received. No books ordered after this special offering will be numbered, and these numbered books will be the only ones considered as “first edition” for collector purposes.

 

I will accept paypal and hand-delivered cash (don’t mail it!). If you choose the paypal option, add $1.00 to your total transaction to cover paypal fees. I will provide you with payment information after your order is submitted.

 

If you live in the Corona area, I will be happy to set up a date and location where the books may be picked up once they arrive and are all signed and ready to go (approximately 3-4 weeks after purchase). Otherwise, please be sure to include shipping information. To make the math easier on everyone, the cost of shipping is $4.00 per book. Please email for shipping costs on extra large orders.

 

To take advantage of this offer, click here and paste the following form into an email. 

 

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Name:

Email Address:

 

Order Information:

 

______ copies of Outcast at $13.00 each (Regular price $16.00)

______ copies of Song and the Sorceress (paperback) at  $13.00 each (Regular price $16.00)

______ copies of Song and the Sorceress (hardcover) at  $23.00 each (Regular price $29.00)

­­­­­­­______ copies of The Northern Queen (paperback) at $13.00 each (Regular price $16.00)

______ copies of The Northern Queen (hardcover) at  $23.00 each (Regular price $29.00)

 

Total copies ordered:     ______

Total book cost:                                __________

 

Shipping Information:

 

_______ I would like to pick up my books personally.

_______ Please ship to the following addresses. (Provide complete addresses and add $4.00 per book shipping fees). Add more space if needed.

 

1. Name:

Address:

City, State, Zip:

 

2. Name:

Address:

City, State, Zip:

 

3. Name:

Address:

City, State, Zip:

$4.00 x _____ books= $_________

 

Total shipping costs:       __________

 

Total Amount due:

 

Book cost:                           __________

Shipping cost:                    __________

Paypal fee:                         $1.00

 

Total Amount Due:          __________

 

Personalization Information:

 

Let me know if you would like the copies signed and personalized, and to whom. Example:

- Copy #1: Signed only

- Copy #2: Personalize to Emma

 

Any additional information you would like to give me about the recipient would be helpful. (ie: “Emma is a fourteen-year old aspiring writer)

 

Thank you for your continued support of my writing habit! If you enjoy your books, please leave reviews at Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Goodreads.com, and any other review sites to let other people know about them.

Outcast, my latest novel, is almost here! 
 

Set in the same world as The Northern Queen and The Song and the Sorceress, Outcast is an adventure tale at heart; delving into themes of friendship, oppression, and redemption, this novel questions our notions of what it means to have and wield power.

 

And also, it's fun to read!

 

Praise from Publisher's Weekly, July 29th, 2013:

"Years after the bloody Purge that ended with the king slain, his heir missing, and the land firmly in the control of the Caretakers, Skerth and other street children struggle to survive at the bottom of the social pyramid of Erados. When street kids Skerth’s age begin to be murdered, it is clear indifference has changed to overt hostility; more worrisome is the fact that the assassin has a profile for his victims and Skerth fits it. He must discover the secret behind the assassin’s campaign of death or die himself. Vandervort’s debut plays with familiar ideas: the poor boy with a special destiny struggling against illegitimate usurpers against a backdrop of secrets, revelations, corruption and heroics. While Vandervort subverts some of the familiar tropes, she seems far more comfortable when she is embracing them. The novel is best read as a variation on a familiar tale, a new cover of an ancient song. (Sept.)"

 

The finished cover art:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch this blog closely for forthcoming information on a special signed and numbered pre-order offer!

 

I realize I've been remiss in updating. Where has the year gone?

 

I'm getting quite a few comments and questions about what's going on with my publishing schedule. First of all, I'm completely flattered to receive questions via facebook, goodreads and livejournal, even email, about when my next book is coming out! It's wonderful to know I actually have fans out there waiting to read more about Ki'leah and friends. I did leave them all in a bad spot, and if I don't get them out of it soon, characters and fans alike are going to rebel! Rest assured, I am planning to get back to their story as soon as possible.

 

Meanwhile, I've got a couple of projects I'm trying to finish and send out into the world that demand my more immediate attention. As far as my own writing goes, I'm working on rewrites for Outcast, a novel I finished several years ago that has been sold to Hadley Rille Books. This novel is a YA set in the same world of Sildehna, but far south in the country of Erados. There are crossover characters between Outcast and the later books in the Song series. This is a lot of fun for me to write, and I hope readers will enjoy it as well. Outcast was due out the end of summer, but I pulled it from the schedule to give it a more thorough rewrite. I'm hoping to still get it out this year, but most likely, fans will have to wait until early 2013.

 

I've also spent a few months working on Chrono Mechanics, the zany sci-fi novel I'm co-authoring with Art Thibert, based on characters and a world he created. We are in the revision stage of this novel, and hope to have it turned in to Hadley Rille by the end of the year. Watch this space for a cool kickstarter campaign we're putting together soon!

 

August is reserved for outlining Book Three in the Song series, the long-awaited sequel! I don't have a tentative release date yet, but I'm really looking forward to spending all of my time on this project once I get the other two novels finished (along with my editing duties-- see below!) I know it's a long wait, but it will be worth the readers' while! For certain, you will see some beloved characters finally get together, and others will face new problems. Britta will have to deal with the consequences of her experience with Ayu-Mah, as will those around her. Readers will learn more about Delveran. War is coming. And there will be pirates....

 

I'm working on some editing projects that are filling up my summer fast. I'm so pleased to announce, belatedly, that Melissa Mickelsen's Nightingale, which I edited, is available. It's an amazing YA fantasy novel that everyone MUST read! This was my first editing job and I'm super proud of Melissa, who is a superb writer and thoroughly deserves success. I'm currently editing Julia Dvorin's Ice Will Reveal for November publication, and I can't WAIT to see this book on shelves! Epic fantasy readers who love a solid, well-built world and strong characters will LOVE this. At the end of this month I will be working on Beta Test author Eric Griffith's YA paranormal for kindle release, and in July I'm working with Terri-Lynne DeFino on her forthcoming novel, Beyond the Gate. If that weren't enough, I've also got two full manuscript submissions to read for Hadley Rille.

 

Phew! So much for a summer off! No wonder I'm tired! :) 

 

More updates soon as I catch up to myself. Meanwhile, enjoy your summer!

Hello there, readers!

 

Often aspiring writers ask me how to get published. I take a deep breath, start explaining, and then slowly watch the hopeful expression turn to horror. Why? Because most aspiring writers are looking for the easy answer. They want to hear, like I did when I first started looking to publish, that they should send their manuscript to X person, who will accept it, love it, and pay them millions of dollars so they can buy the neighboring castle to J.K. Rowling and live out their days in luxury.

 

Unfortunately, the true answer is that it takes a lot of sweat, tears, and research. Emphasis on research! I bought the Writer's Digest magazine and books before I realized that they were outdated before they hit the press. I combed the internet. I stalked agent and publisher blogs and websites, and signed up for the PW Daily email newsletter. I think it took more work to research how to publish than it did to write. Ultimately, that research paid off, in queries that earned requests for full manuscripts, and in the relationships I built along the way that finally led to publication. In the end, a short story I submitted for an anthology ended up paving the way to acceptance of my first novel by Hadley Rille Books. The rest is history.

 

That was my story. But the most important thing I learned from all of that struggle is that there is no one single path to publication. Everyone's story is different. There isn't a magic answer, a golden key that will unlock the doors to success. However, there are a few things authors can do to improve their chances:

 

1) Finish your manuscript. A complete novel should be between 80,000 and 100,000 words. 80,000 is on the short side; anything over 125,000 is, according to the agents and publishers whom I've heard speak and/ or spoken to personally, an auto-reject.

2) Have other people read it and give you honest feedback. If you don't have a writer's group, then find one. Your mother, best friend and significant other don't count. 

3) Find writer's workshops, either local or farther if you can afford the travel, that fit your genre. You want to attend talks given by agents and editors that help you explain what they're looking for and how to write query letters, proposals, etc. You also want to meet and network with other writers. The internet is a great resource for this, as most writer's workshops and retreats have websites. I went to Writer's Weekend in Washington, the Southern California Writers Conference,  and Viable Paradise XI.

4) Start reviewing agentquery.com to find agents that represent your genre. Then, research each agent online to ensure you have the most current information possible. Agents switch agencies, quit or join the business all the time, and you want to make sure you find the best fit for your novel.

5) Work on your query letters, synopses, and other promotional materials. Again, the internet has a TON of info on this. Agents will often post sample queries or talk about what they want to see, so be sure to DO what they say when you write your materials.

6) Polish your manuscript while you submit queries. If you have grammar errors that you make consistently, study up on how to eliminate those from your writing. Again, there is a TON of good grammar info available online, so you don't even need to pay for a handbook. One of the best sites is the Owl at Purdue.

7) Start querying agents.

8) Be persistent, patient, and develop a tough skin! You WILL be rejected. Often. And most of those rejections will be form letters. Don't take this personally or spend time analyzing the "why?" and the "why me?" of it all. Just move on to the next agents on your list and get those queries out!

9) Don't argue with agents or publishers. In one of my earlier experiences reading novels to accept/ reject for Hadley Rille, I decided NOT to send a form rejection. Instead, I wrote a nice note to the author about why we didn't accept his novel. He sent back a diatribe about how I clearly didn't "get it" and should've read more. If I'd only read more, I would've truly appreciated the brilliance of his work... and so on. Because of people like this, agents and editors send form letters. 

10) Once your manuscript is accepted, prepare for MORE work! There will be rounds of revisions and edits. Your editor may ask you to make changes, and you must prepare to make them. Sometimes these are grammar/ punctuation/ spelling changes, and sometimes these are plot/ character/ story arc changes. Arguing with your editor or pulling your manuscript from publication because you don't want to make changes is a surefire way to ensure you never work with that press again. And the writing/ publishing community is smaller than you realize. Editors talk. Agents talk. Writers talk. You don't want to earn a reputation for being difficult to work with. Keep an open mind and understand that your editor saw something worthy in your manuscript and, loving it as much as you do, only wants to help you give it the best chance of success in the highly competitive world of publishing.

Above all, remember this: writing is a creative process, but publishing is a BUSINESS. As with any business, you need to put your best foot forward at all times. Make sure your materials are polished and that you've done your research. Most agents will auto-reject query letters that are not addressed to them, misspell their names, or have grammar errors. Do your homework and always, no matter what, be professional!

Feel free to pass this on to any aspiring writers you know, or add your own experiences/ advice in the comments section. We're all in this together!

It's a Signing!

If you're in the Corona, CA area this week, the Corona Crossings Barnes & Noble and Lincoln Alternative Elementary have graciously invited me to sign books this Wednesday, December 14th from 3:30-6:00 pm as part of the Lincoln Alternative Book Fair Family Night & Fundraiser.  There will be plenty of copies of both The Song and the Sorceress and The Northern Queen available in paperback, along with a few copies of each in hardback.  If you have considered purchasing a copy for yourself or as a gift, this would be a great time to do so, as I will be available to both sign and personalize your books.

 

In addition, if you purchase anything that night, please let the cashier know that you are with Lincoln Alternative so that a portion of the profits can be donated to this fantastic school!

 

The store address is:

2470 Tuscany Street Suite 101  

Corona, CA 92881

 

Please feel free to forward this information to anyone you believe may be interested.

 

Have a fantastic holiday!

New HoF Post and a Hadley Rille SALE!

Hey Peeps!

 

I hope you're all prepping for a happy holiday, whether you're scanning the Black Friday ads for deals (like I am), pulling out your favorite recipes, or untangling the Christmas lights.  To get you in the mood for one of America's most gluttunous holidays, I've posted about the importance of food in fantasy over at the Heroines of Fantasy blog.  Go check it out!

 

And if you're looking for some great new reads, either for yourself or a friend, Hadley Rille Books has a Birthday Sale going on now through November 29th.  Select titles (including The Song and the Sorceress) will be available for only $.99.  Browse the selections here, and don't forget to tell a friend!

 

Above all, have a fantastic Thanksgiving and a glorious Black Friday.  May you eat plenty and save much this holiday weekend.

 

Great Reviews for Fantastic New HRB Releases!

 

Just returned from the 2011 World Fantasy Convention, where I enjoyed hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones.  Great panels, excellent venue, intriguing panels, fantastic food in the con suite, outstanding weather, and great company.  I even managed to say something intelligent about pirates in SFF during my brief stint on the pirate panel.  What could be better?

 

Well, how about coming home to discover not one, but two excellent reviews of Hadley Rille authors in Publisher's Weekly!  My soon-to-be siblings in publishing are representing well this month!

 

I'm probably most excited that Eric Griffith's Beta Test was well-received.  Not just because Eric and I have been very good friends since Viable Paradise XI, but also because this novel is one hell of a crazy-fun ride!  Here's what PW had to say:

 

Griffith offers up an unusually lighthearted apocalyptic tale. Thousands of people around the world abruptly disappear, including Sam Terra's mother and the woman he thought he could love. Sam seeks answers, accompanied by his obnoxious friend Melvin and his childhood pal Paulie, and gradually uncovers secrets that in other hands could have led to a deep philosophical exploration of humanity's place in the universe. Instead, Sam's adventures border on the absurd as he travels from New York to California to Australia while the world at large inexplicably ignores the insanity thrust upon it. The humor can't quite hide the lack of finesse in the writing, but with the focus on escapism, Griffith's stylistic awkwardness isn't as big a stumbling block as it otherwise might have been. (Dec.)

 

I call bullshit on the stylistic awkwardness remark; this book is a smoothly-written page-turner chock full of pop culture references and geeky in-jokes.  Pure escapist fun from an author with a lot more where that came from!

 

I'm also pretty excited about this review of Cate Gardner's Theatre of Curious Acts:

 

Gardner (Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits), a rising purveyor of high literary strangeness, offers a fresh slice of phantasmagoria densely packed with striking images. A handful of survivors of WWI meet to take in a mysterious performance that lures them into a battle for the fate of the world. Daniel Cole and his brothers in arms may be the chosen ones, but they're hardly heroes, and their journey through a world of cross-time trains and four wickedly reimagined apocalyptic horsemen is far removed from the usual epic travelogue. Instead, the men get picked off, separated, and befuddled by their potent, cryptic female guides. Only in the powerful conclusion are Cole and his fellows reunited, when their much-abused humanity just might be enough to halt the apocalypse. Gardner skillfully combines a tight narrative with lush prose to create a difficult but rewarding tale. (Dec.)

 

First off, this cover is gorgeous, and the premise intriguing.  I haven't read this book yet, but it launched to the top of my to-read pile after I arm-wrestled the arc away from Terri-Lynne DeFino at WFC.  (Okay, we bargained-- she got Beta Test, I got Theatre.  But I think I have to share.)  Either way, it looks like a unique little treat for readers in the mood for something a little outside the norm.

 

Overall, a bit of a coup for Hadley Rille, and a harbinger of excellent things to come!  

New Post up today at HoF!

 

Attention, Peeps!  My monthly post is up over at the Heroines of Fantasy blog I co-host with Terri-Lynne DeFino and Karin Rita Gastreich.  This month I'm talking about reality in fantasy-- how much "reality" should authors integrate into a fantasy world?

 

Check it out over here!

 

And also, buy my books.  They make great Christmas gifts!

My Favorite Publisher's Guest Post up at Heroines of Fantasy!

 

So today I dropped by Heroines of Fantasy, my group blog with Karin Rita Gastreich and Terri-Lynne DeFino, and was completely touched and honored by today's guest post.  My editor, Eric T. Reynolds of Hadley Rille Books, has written up a great post about how Hadley Rille transitioned from hard sci-fi anthologies to fantasy, and talks about the pivotal role of Song and the Sorceress in sparking that transition.  It's a great inside peek at how a small-but-growing publishing company has evolved into a great press that actively promotes books with strong, interesting female characters.  

 

Check it out here!