"To Florence From Laura and YALitChat!"

"To Florence From Laura and YALitChat!!"

"I understand that, Georgia, but if you consider it this way: Getting published does add some weight to a manuscript. A self-pubbed author has to convince libraries that unlike some other self-pubbed books they've read, hers really is worth…"

"One of the great challenges when there's a lot of backstory is working it into the text without it coming across as info dump. I appreciated it all the more when an author pulls it off. Sometimes a prologue is the start of the story, but…"

"I tend to skip prologues when I'm reading novels. They don't generally involve the MC, and usually novels convey the info later on in the story, anyway. But I see them in so many YAs, it seems a bit silly to say there's some sweeping…"

"I think you're awesome to persist like this. Know that this process doesn't stop once you have an agent. I have a great agent, and you know what? This happens with publishers, too. You rack up rejections. It's the reality of pursuing…"

"Just wondering-- what type of words are you talking about?"

"I think that's a real solution if you're a very marketing minded person, or you already have a platform. If you can sell something to the public yourself without the resources of a publisher, more power to you. IMO it helps if your…"

"It's kind of strange that books aren't published for guys because they don't sell, but guys don't read YA because the books aren't written for guys. A chicken and egg thing. I see a lot of teenaged boys in the…"

"Avoid it. When you're using slang that doesn't come naturally to you, it's very apparent. IMO the first book in the "Marked" series really shows this (the speech rhythms sound more natural with subsequent books). Plus, it…"

"Make up your own song lyrics, because getting permissions is a pain. Or use some sort off very old, traditional song like 'Greensleeves' where the lyrics are public domain."

"I'll be honest with you. As a reader, I have this tendency to completely skip over dream sequences. I don't know why. They just bother me. My own dreams are strange and indecipherable enough, so I suppose I don't have interest in…"

"You know what? I totally agree with you on those points. I find romance tiresome. I didn't like reading those types of books as a teenager and I'm still not into them now. There are a lot of people who seem to believe that romance is the…"

"I remember werewolves were the next vampires, and then zombies, and then faeries. Anyone who started writing werewolves and zombies and faeries at the time when they were big didn't get around to shopping their book until the trend is…"

"Congratulations, Amy! You must be so excited! :-D"