Caren Johnson Literary Agency

Last week I launched a blog for the authors of MTV Books, in the style of the blog I launched last year for the authors of the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies. Caren asked me to guest-blog today about how and why I started these blogs. (Check out the blogs here: MTV Blog and Simon Pulse Blog)

My first novel, MAJOR CRUSH, a Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy, came out in August 2006. In the months leading up to the release, I drove myself crazy Googling myself and checking my sales rank on Amazon. (If you’re not published yet, don’t laugh—it will happen to you.) On Amazon, when MAJOR CRUSH was included in someone’s Listmania list, it was almost always a list of all the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies. Other places online, I saw people asking each other when the next Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy was coming out.

This may seem like a no-brainer to you. All the covers in the line are designed by the same artist to give them a cohesive look. They’re all light romantic comedies suitable for younger teens. If a reader likes one, she’ll probably like others. Yet unless they’re grouped together in a dump (fancy bookstore terminology: that cardboard stand in the middle of the aisle), these books aren’t shelved together. They’re shelved under the authors’ names. And though the past books in the line are listed inside the front cover of each book, that doesn’t give readers information about the books to come.

Kelley St. John was participating in a group blog for the Warner Forever authors, and that’s where I got the idea to bring all the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy authors together on one blog. The blog would help readers because they’d get information about new books before their release, and they could check out the covers and descriptions of the old books plus blog posts from the authors, all in one place. For authors, of course the blog would promote the new books coming out. But even if the author was writing something different now, the blog would link to the author’s web site, where he or she would have her new work on display. And on that web site, the author would post a link back to the blog, increasing traffic in the other direction. The blog would be beneficial to everyone.

I could have simply e-mailed the authors I knew and started the blog that way. But nowadays almost all authors have at least one blog already, and I predicted low participation. I thought I’d get a better result if I went through the Simon Pulse editors. Also, I wanted to write “Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies” at the top of the blog, and I figured the editors might take issue with that. This is their brand name of sorts, and I didn’t want to use it without their permission.

I proposed the blog to my editor. She thought it was a great idea but she would have to get approval.

There were committee meetings.

There were more committee meetings.

There was a conference call with me, my editor, her assistant, and a marketing expert.

And five months after proposing it, I had a blog.

It’s been a great success. We now have twelve authors participating. I have a target date for each of them to blog once a month. If they don’t hit it exactly, that’s fine. The point of the date is to ensure we have new content every few days. Their posts are hilarious, interesting, touching—each in a remarkably different voice. Go visit and see what you think, and don’t forget to comment!

My second book, THE BOYS NEXT DOOR, was a Simon Pulse Romantic Comedy published in June 2007. But my next book, BOY IN BLUE, will be released by MTV Books in March 2009. With the same purpose in mind, I proposed to my MTV editor that I start a blog for the authors of MTV Books. These novels aren’t as similar to each other as the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies. Some are realistic, some are paranormal, and some are downright frightening. But they’re all for older teens, and like the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies, if you like one MTV Book you’ll probably like others.

This time approval was quick, perhaps because of the precedent of the Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies Blog (Simon Pulse and MTV Books are both imprints of Simon & Schuster). We already have ten authors signed up, and I expect more to join. Hop over and post a comment about my fabulous finish in my latest 10-K race, Barbara Caridad Ferrer’s frustrated Christmas past, or Stephanie Kuehnert’s road to publication plus the coolest author photo ever.

Wow, when I look at this beautiful blog, I feel very impressed with myself. Then I remind myself that I didn’t do much. They’re MTV Books’ gorgeous covers, the authors’ thought-provoking blog posts, and interesting comments from the reading and writing community. All I did was sweep these elements into one black and hot pink pile.

Jenn Echols

www.jennifer-echols.com