Emily Hainsworth

New Release Date!

Emily — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:00:48 +0000

Things have been BUSY around here, as you can probably guess! I’ve been working away on Book 2, planning a honeymoon my husband and I should have taken a decade ago, and I have seen the cover art for THROUGH TO YOU! It is killing me not to share…but all in good time.

Anyway, the big news I discovered this week is that THROUGH TO YOU will be released seven weeks earlier than originally planned! This is exciting in at least 1000 different ways, but anyway, if you’ve been looking forward to picking up the book, it will now be hitting shelves on:

OCTOBER 2, 2012

My calendar is marked–now to make some serious release plans! Stay tuned…cover reveal coming soon!

~*~

Bring on the Apocalypsies!

Emily — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:52:37 +0000

It is officially 2012 and I’m SO excited because these debut books by my fellow Apocalypsies are finally available:

THE BOY PROJECT by Kami Kinard

CRACKED by K.M. Walton

CINDER by Marissa Meyer

THE CABINET OF EARTHS by Anne Nesbet

UNDER THE NEVER SKY by Veronica Rossi

Congratulations all of you! I see a lot of book purchasing in my future!

2012 Brings TWO Special Debuts

Emily — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:00:22 +0000

I rarely get very personal on this blog, but today I’m just going to go all crazy whats-going-on-with-me, so…LOOK OUT!

2012 was already set to be one of the biggest years of my life. I have been entirely focused on NOVEMBER 20 as the date to end all dates (no, they haven’t rescheduled the apocalypse, but it IS when that little book of mine comes out).

However, my husband, Stefan, and I now have a second date to get excited about: the first week of June. Spring will be in full swing, flowers will be blooming, and we’ll be welcoming our very first baby into the world. Yes…I’m pregnant!

We’re totally excited. Stefan and I met on the internet when we were both still in high school. A classic YA love story, and maybe one day I’ll write about it. We got married twelve years ago, and I’m pretty sure most of our family members gave up on us ever having children. What were we waiting for? Maybe something to celebrate. So the coolest thing about 2012 is: within six months Baby makes his/her debut, and six months after that, we can celebrate as a family for the debut of THROUGH TO YOU.

Life is amazing. <3

We Have A Winner!

Emily — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:00:28 +0000

Thanks so much again to everyone for entering the giveaway and liking my Facebook page! This has been a really fun contest (I loved your enthusiasm!) and I wish each and every person who entered could have won. I can’t wait for the chance to do this again soon.

But now, without further ado:

The winner of the *signed* copies of SUPERNATURALLY by Kiersten White and A BEAUTIFUL DARK by Jocelyn Davies is:

Athena Franco

Athena, I will be contacting you via email for your mailing address. Thanks again to everyone who entered for your enthusiasm and check back for another chance to win soon!

An Anniversary Giveaway!

Emily — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 08:00:14 +0000

Today is a very special day. Just thinking about it makes me totally overwhelmed and appreciative and blows my mind anew.

One year ago today, my amazing agent, Mary Kole, of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, offered me representation. Her email popped up on my Blackberry at 7:30am the day after I received my very first rejection for my new novel, THROUGH TO YOU. I about had a heart attack when I saw who it was from, and after I read the email, I had my husband read it too, just to make sure I wasn’t delusional. I won’t hesitate to say the things that have happened in the year since have changed my life irreversibly. THROUGH TO YOU will be coming out November 20, 2012 from Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins (the cover is currently in development–can’t wait to share it with all of you), Paramount Pictures has purchased the film option rights, and I’m hard at work on a second standalone book for B+B.

So, as you can tell, today is a big day for me! I had NO idea one year ago what lay in store for me. I was so focused on just getting an agent, I proceeded to spend hours that day sifting through message board threads trying to figure out what happens next. The answer is: a lot! I have learned so much, had so many great experiences, and am so grateful. And now I’d like to celebrate with:

A GIVEAWAY!

My very first giveaway – be gentle.

So, the important question: what can you win??

SIGNED hardcover copies of SUPERNATURALLY by the lovely Kiersten White, and A BEAUTIFUL DARK by the fabulous Jocelyn Davies! …and just for fun, I’ll throw in some awesome Apocalypsies bookmarks and buttons. I had the pleasure of meeting Kiersten and Jocelyn when they came to The Tattered Cover on the Dark Days tour. They are both fellow HarperCollins authors, so I figured what better books to feature for my agent anniversary and very first giveaway? Did I mention these books are signed?

The rules are very simple:

All you have to do is leave a comment right here on this blog post saying you’d like to enter (if you’re reading this on Facebook or Goodreads, please come HERE to my website to comment or I may not see your entry). YOU WILL BE ENTERED TWICE if you indicate in your comment that you have LIKED my Facebook page, which can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/ehainsworthbooks (please be truthful, I’ll be checking). This counts for anyone who has already LIKED my page too. Just remind me!

Entries will be open until this Friday, November 18th, at 5:00pm Pacific (sorry, due to shipping costs this giveaway is only open to those with addresses in the continental U.S.). One lucky winner will be chosen at random and announced here next week. Will it be you?

~*~

Will you grow up to be a writer?

Emily — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:39:42 +0000

(cross-posted from Brave New Words)

I knew I wanted to be a writer from at least fifth or sixth grade on, but sometimes it seemed inevitable that I should take that path. My parents had two daughters. They named my older sister Charlotte and then unwittingly (they claim) proceeded to dub me Emily.

Do you know what people of a certain age say when they meet two sweet little girls named Charlotte and Emily? Every single time, they ask: “Are you going to grow up to be writers?”

I didn’t get the joke for the longest time, and it was even more confusing when I explained our name-pairing was an accident, so finally I learned to simply smile and give a shy, “Maybe.” Then one day I discovered an old elegant hardbound set on my parents’ bookshelf of JANE EYRE and WUTHERING HEIGHTS by these two girls, Charlotte and Emily Bronte. I ran to my parents like, “Did you know these two girls with OUR names wrote some books?” I think the reaction I got was similar to the day I asked my dad if he’d heard of a band called The Beatles.

I was probably around nine years old when this went down. I sat and tried to read JANE EYRE, probably because the pictures on the cover were of little school girls and not some gross kissy-face couple under a tree. I distinctly remember that all the school girls had their eyes closed, but ONE girl’s eyes were open. This haunted me for years, and I never did read past the time Jane suffered at Lowood School.

Years later, in college, I read WUTHERING HEIGHTS in an English Lit class. Thankfully, I had a professor with a deep understanding of this book, and it came alive for me. I finally finished reading JANE EYRE soon afterward and loved it even more. Sibling rivalry still boiled in my blood though, and I was annoyed that EMILY hadn’t written the book I loved more. Why did Charlotte have to write it?

My sister and I eventually learned to like each other (for the most part). But I doubt I actually became a writer because of my parents’ choice in names (if I had been a boy, I was going to be Ross…yeah). But you know, if you want a kid to consider writing, it doesn’t hurt to have people asking at every turn, “Are you going to grow up to be writers?”

I’m still trying to get Charlotte to give it a go.

A Successful Query Letter

Emily — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:32:12 +0000

Me with Mary Kole in Los Angeles

(I am cross-posting this with the BRAVE NEW WORDS blog since it might actually be helpful to post my query letter on my own blog)

Since I previously blogged rather ecstatically HERE about signing with Mary Kole, I thought I’d focus this Agent Story post on the query letter that set my publication journey in motion. I hadn’t looked at my query since late last year when I signed with Mary, and I had no idea re-reading it would fill me with all of the same dread and anxiety it did when I originally sent it! Query Letter Stomachache is apparently not a curable condition.

That said, before you read it, I feel the need to put out a few disclaimers (which may also serve as warnings for those still in the trenches):

1) I sound completely stuffed. I was trying to be business-like and professional, and I think I succeeded, but ZERO personality shines through in this letter. Yes, Mary offered representation anyway, and I realize there’s a delicate balance between personality and weirdo, but use your best judgment.

2) THROUGH TO YOU is really not a paranormal novel. At the time I was very much under the impression “science fiction” was still a dirty word in YA. A lot has changed in nine months. If I queried today I might call it “light sci-fi,” a term I heard more than once at SCBWI this summer.

3) THROUGH TO YOU is also not magical realism! I realized that after I read IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma. If you want magical realism, read her book! My use of the term is further evidence of me being “sci-fi” phobic.

4) Note the previous rejection and lack of any publication credits (okay, to be fair, I did have an article published in a dog grooming magazine, but that was notrelevant). Everyone gets rejected and everyone has to get their first publication somewhere. Mary offered representation because she liked THIS book.

All right, with all of that aside, I feel slightly less embarrassed posting this for the entire internet to see:

Dear Ms. Kole,

I was in touch with you last year about a previous novel, [REDACTED], at which time you encouraged me to submit other work to you in the future. I thought you might be interested in my latest YA paranormal novel, THROUGH TO YOU. It is complete at 59,000 words.

The day eighteen-year-old Camden Pike sees a ghost is the day he assumes he’s finally lost it. For the last two months, he’s been torturing himself over why he walked away from the car accident that killed his girlfriend, Viv. She was the last good thing in his life: helping him rebuild his identity after an injury ended his football career, and picking up the pieces when his home life shattered. With Viv at his side, his pain was manageable–she was all that mattered. He’d give anything for one glimpse of her again. But now there’s a ghost…and it isn’t her.

Cam quickly realizes the apparition, Nina, is not a ghost at all. She’s a girl from another world–one where Cam was the one who died, and Viv is alive and well. Once he learns this, all he can focus on is getting his girlfriend back, no matter the cost. But the accident isn’t the only thing different about this other world–Viv and Cam both made very different choices here that changed things between them. Nina is keeping some dangerous secrets and the window between the worlds isshrinking every day. As Cam comes to terms with who this Viv has become, he’s forced to choose–stay with her, or let her go–before the window closes between them once and for all.

THROUGH TO YOU is a book that explores themes of unhealthy relationships and the power of choices within a magical realist atmosphere. Per your submissions guidelines, I have included the first ten pages below. A full manuscript is available upon request. I am currently querying other agents at this time. I appreciate you taking the time to consider my work.

Sincerely,

Emily Hainsworth

Post-SCBWI (made you look)

Emily — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 05:16:24 +0000

I know I promised a post after SCBWI, and that is still COMING!

However, I have a few other things going down (including a teensy weensy looming deadline) and I want to make that post as epic as the experience it will detail, so…please stay tuned. I met so many amazing people and had such great experiences—I even remembered to take some pictures!

So the post-SCBWI post (um…) will have to be fashionably late, but it will be coming to you from Hollywood, so that’s okay, of course!

In the meantime, I suggest everyone go over to Goodreads and add Courtney Summers‘s latest novel, THIS IS NOT A TEST. Because she just released what it’s about today, and I haven’t seen so many people on Twitter hit the ceiling in a long time! If you like Courtney’s raw, contemporary novels where people are their own worst enemies and you never see the twists coming until you find yourself muttering ohnoshedidn’t…take all of that…and ADD ZOMBIES.

I cannot wait for this book to come out! :)

(full disclosure: Courtney is my critique partner—but that just means I know TINAT is awesome)

Okay seriously now, SCBWI coming ASAP!

A really brief post about super exciting things…

Emily — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 06:44:40 +0000

So I have been insanely busy for many reasons (some personal, some business, but for the most part I have been in The Edit Cave). BUT I wanted to pop in here for a quick update before I leave my gorgeous city, Denver, for wild and exotic Los Angeles!

I will be attending the 40th Annual SCBWI summer conference (Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators) — if you’re going to be there, please say hello! I’m *cough* working on my shyness, so this might be the only way I get to meet anyone.

I’ve been to one other SCBWI conference two years ago in New York. It was overwhelming to say the least, even then. This time it will be overwhelming AND I get to meet the following people: A huge number of fellow 2012 debut authors The Apocalypsies, Nova Ren Suma (okay, we’ve met before, but I’m so excited to see her again!), Mary Kole (my agent), Alessandra Balzer (my editor), Michelle Weiner (my film agent), among many other overwhelmingly awesome people.

And while I’m on the subject of L.A. and Hollywood, I am so excited to share this:

This is the trailer for a little Sundance hit called LIKE CRAZY, which should be in theaters in October. A few months back I wrote another exciting post about my book, THROUGH TO YOU, being optioned for film. Director Drake Doremus and writer Ben York Jones are two of the people I’ve been told are interested in making this happen, and they are also two of the people responsible for LIKE CRAZY. I have only seen the trailer at this point, but now that I’ve watched it three or four times…the thought of the filmmakers behind THIS trailer even considering turning THROUGH TO YOU into a film gives me the most unbelievably wonderful chills.

Is this the bus to Cartagena?

Emily — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 04:58:35 +0000

I don’t remember how old I was the first time I saw Romancing The Stone. The movie was just always there, woven into the fabric of my life and probably every other person alive in the 80s. I never questioned it. Some cultures have myths, religion, gods–I have Kathleen Turner. For anyone who has somehow missed the amazingly sexy/cheesy/classic film, it’s about a mousy romance writer with no life or love, who travels to Colombia on a quest to save her sister from some bad guys, ultimately sheds her mousy exterior and comes into her own hawt romance with the one and only Michael Douglas. Danger and hijinx abound.

The point of this post is that for years my one and only mental image of a writer was embodied by Joan Wilder. And I’m not talking about the sexy, breezy woman who sails off into the sunset with Jack Colton. I’m talking about THIS Joan Wilder:

NOT this one:

I wanted to be her. The headphone-and-pajamas, weeping-over-her-typewriter, lives alone with her cat, and has post-it notes ALL over her apartment…WRITER. Forget the action and romance in the rest of the movie, I could watch the first fifteen minutes where she finishes her novel and celebrates all by herself over and over. That’s what writing is really like! (well, except maybe for the part where she types out the perfect last sentence and THE END without tearing every last strand of her hair out)

So recently when a client of mine heard about my book being published, he asked me clear out of the blue, “Does this mean you’re going to run off to South America and become Joan Wilder or something?”

And you know what? I might have a MacBook instead of a typewriter, but I realized today that I have the headphones, the pajamas, the post-it notes…and even the cat (my late kitty Thyme was actually the spitting image of Joan Wilder’s cat Romeo). Omg, I have fulfilled the dream of mousy writerdom!

Then today I received one other Joan Wilder accessory that I never thought I’d have:

(haha, it’s a publishing contract, not Jack Colton…I’m set in that department)

I know you are probably thinking: Emily, you have a severely distorted vision of reality, get help! And you wouldn’t be the first person to say that recently! But you know, I think everyone who has ever tried to get published has an image of a WRITER that they see in their heads when they let themselves dream. And I think I could do a lot worse than Kathleen Turner.

So when you think writer, or for that matter, any dream you aspire to…
What do you see?

~*~