News and Tour Wrap Up

So MY PLAIN JANE has been out for two weeks, and I (and the other two Janies) have been getting all the love!

In the first week we went on an amazing tour in which we:

Met a real live HEDGEHOG named Pixi Sticks in Salt Lake City!

Answered a lot of fun questions and performed a bit of MY PLAIN JANE (with costumes!)

(Thanks to the Fabulous Book Fiend for the fun video from our Denver event)

Almost melted in Phoenix, but we kept right on laughing

and then we returned to Salt Lake City, where the three of us sat down to start writing our next book, MY CALAMITY JANE. It was business as usual for the Janies:

And then something AMAZING happened:

MY PLAIN JANE hit the New York Times bestseller list!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, it was an amazing two weeks, and thanks so much to everyone who came out and supported us. We have the best, most enthusiastic, hilarious readers, and I love you all so much!

If you're feeling a bit cheated because we stuck to the western United States this time, and you live on the eastern side, we have good news. The Janies will be meeting up in August in Virginia to finish writing MY CALAMITY JANE, and while we're there, we'll be doing two book events. The first is at Barnes & Noble Charlottesville on Saturday, August 4th, at 12pm.

And the second will be at One More Page in Arlington on August 7 at 7pm:

So come and see us there! We promise that we will perform for you, too!

In less exciting news, I just sent copyright infringement takedowns to a huge amount of piracy sites. This depresses me so much. Please don't steal my books. At this stage, every single sale of MY PLAIN JANE counts so much, I can't emphasize enough how much it matters. The Janies and I would really like to keep writing books together, but we can't do this if our sales aren't good enough. So please don't pirate!

On that note, I have some awesome news. MY PLAIN JANE is, as of this week, available at Target! But this is no ordinary version of the book. This version has a whole EXTRA CHAPTER at the end, like an epilogue to our epilogue. The Target version of the book is the only place you can get this extra content (which we had so much fun writing!), and they have only printed a limited amount of these, so once they are all sold, they're gone.

So run to Target, people! (Or you can get it online here.) And have a good laugh with us about the invention of the double date.

Thanks again for all the love for MY PLAIN JANE. 

XOXO
Cynthia (and the Janies)

News, Covers, Movies, and Mitts

I've got a big news build up for you this time, so brace yourself. There's a lot.

1. THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE is going to be out in only TWO WEEKS! I had the idea for this novel years ago, so I am so excited for it to be finally seeing the light of day. Holly is the modern-day Ebenezer Scrooge, which was so fun to write. I can't wait for you to meet her. Go here to the book page where you can find out more and click one of these links to pre-order: HarperCollins / Amazon / Barnes & Noble /  iBooks / Indiebound

the first hardcover has arrived and it is soooooo shiny

Look at the back! Gah!

I'm going to do a special pre-order giveaway-- the first hundred people who preorder the book (email me at writercynthiahand@gmail.com with a screenshot of your completed order) will get a personalized Holly Chase card, signed by me, and something from a fun selection of Christmas-oriented swag.

Show me that you're spreading the word about THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE, by tweeting about it, adding to your To Read pile on Goodreads, doing a post on your website or blog, or Instasharing, (again, email me with your screenshots or tag me in the posts) and you'll be entered to win even more great prizes, like:

a Christmas hat, knitted by moi

a pair of Christmas fingerless mitts, also knitted by yours truly

a special Holly Chase themed Christmas ornament

a signed and personalized hardcover of The Afterlife of Holly Chase

signed copies of some of my other books

signed bookplates and bookmarks

and a bunch more!

So spread the word! And keep checking back, because there are going to be a lot more giveaways and fun events as we get closer to Christmas.

2. The Afterlife of Holly Chase is also coming to Australia on 10-23-17. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the cover--look!

Squee! It captures the book so perfectly! I can't even!

3.  I've also spent a big chunk of the past few weeks trying to get Holly Chase on the road to becoming a movie, which has been so exciting and stressful. (No movie news I can share yet, but I've got my fingers crossed.)

Me hanging out with Napoleon on the lot at Fox, where we were pitching TAoHC

So yeah, I have Holly Chase on the brain.

But . . .

4. The Janies also have a new book coming out--in June 2018, to be exact. And it now has a COVER. We will be revealing the cover TOMORROW, so head over tomorrow to www.ladyjanies.com to check it out.

5. It's fall! (Okay, this is only going to be news to people in, say, California.) Fall is my favorite season: I love sweaters, leaves, and KNITTING. I have been knitting up a storm.

You too, could have fingerless mitts, but these are mine.

6. I got a puppy. Her name is Poesy. The cats are not thrilled.

Poesy also clearly digs fall.

7. I'm going to be doing a few events around the release of Holly Chase, mostly in Idaho, but also in Miami and some other places. Check out the Events tab to find out where and when.

That's it--all the news I can think to share right now. Don't forget to enter the giveaway, and look for the MY PLAIN JANE cover tomorrow.

xoxo

C

News and an Upcoming Cover

I've got news! I've got a huge buildup of news, actually. I love news! So here goes:

1. I am doing an event this week! Listen up, Idaho people, because I am moderating an event at the Boise Barnes & Noble on THURSDAY, Feb 9, at 7pm. I'm going to get the chance to interview the phenomenal Victoria Aveyard, author of THE RED QUEEN series (I toured with Victoria a couple years ago and it was so fun--she's a fellow Tolkien / George R. R. Martin fan, so of course we got along wonderfully) and the brilliant Sophie Jordan, who I've been a huge fan of since her FIRELIGHT series (and now she's going to be here promoting REIGN OF SHADOWS series) and can't wait to spend some time with in person!

I'll also be signing copies of the UNEARTHLY series, THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE, and MY LADY JANE. So come out!

2. The ebook of THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE is on sale, big time in Germany all month! The promotional price will be 5,99 € (usually 14,99 €) and the promotion will run 2/1 to 2/28. (Sidenote: I love this cover. The title translates to "The Improbability of Happiness." Make of that what you will, ha, but I love the way it looks like a math problem on the cover, juxtaposed with the dandelion and the girl. (And the ya! in the corner.)

3. MY LADY JANE hit the New York Times list in January! I am so thrilled about this, especially because my two co-authors now get to put the all-prestigious "New York Times bestselling author" label in front of their names. And that label will now go on the paperback, too. (The paperback is coming in June.) MLJ has also been landing on all kinds of wonderful lists lately, including the Amelia Bloomer list (which is all about celebrating feminism, which we really wanted to do when we wrote MLJ), the YALSA 2017 Best Fiction for Young Adults list , and the Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices. It's so great to see this book that gave us such joy to write being appreciated by so many people. Thanks, people!

4. This week, the Janies and I are finishing the first official draft of MY PLAIN JANE, which is the book in which we save Jane Eyre / Charlotte Bronte. This novel has been so much fun to work on, and we can't wait until YOU get to read it. Which will be a while. Like Summer 2018, a while. But we are hard at work on it, and it's coming!

To tide you over, I'll leave you this. It's a brilliant cartoon by Kate Beaton that captures, in a nutshell, what we think might be wrong with Jane Eyre. *spicy language alert*

And now for the biggest news of ALL:

4. I HAVE A NEW SOLO BOOK COMING OUT. It's called THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE, and it will be out on November 7, 2017. You can pre-order here. It's a teenage retelling of Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL, which I had loads of fun writing. It's got a touch of magic and romance and great costumes, and I WILL SHOW YOU THE COVER TOMORROW.

That's right. TOMORROW. 9 Eastern. I will reveal the cover of THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE. It is, in my somewhat biased opinion, the best cover EVER. 

Enter the contest (which involves shamelessly plastering the Holly Chase cover everywhere you can think of) to win the very first ARC of THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE that I get my hands on.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So stop by here tomorrow!

Underground

Okay, so I haven't been around on this website for a while. *checks the last time I posted* *it was February* Yep.

I've been super super super busy promoting and writing marketing content for my latest book, MY LADY JANE, on the Lady Janies website here: www.ladyjanies.com. And I've been working with my besties on a new Jane book, too. Woot woot!

I am also on a very tight deadline for my next solo book. So I'll be underground for a little while yet.

But check back soon for some amazing news that I'll be allowed to share with you any day now, and, if you're interested in what I'm doing, keep track of my feed on Twitter (@cynthiahand) or Instagram (@cynthiahand).

I'll just be here typing away.


via GIPHY

Another Giveaway and A Bit of News

Wow, time is moving fast. THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE comes out in two weeks!

I got another wonderful package in the mail--5 real copies of the Australian version of TLTWSG.

Pretty, right?(See below for how another rafflecopter, where you can win a copy or one of the last 2 ARCs before the book actually comes out.)

Which brings us to how, yes, TLTWSG is going to be available in some other countries:

Here's the list so far:

• Australia from HarperAustralia (Happy sigh--I love my Australian fans and I will someday finally get over there to meet them!)
• Italy from Harlequin Mondadori
• Germany from Darkiss
• Hungary from Maxim Konyvkiado

I also wanted to announce that TLTWSG will be available as both an ebook and an audiobook, all out on February 10th.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Book, New Title!

Yesterday I officially finished my fourth novel.

Which made me feel like:

Also:

Because this novel just about killed me to write. To an extent, all of my novels have made me feel like I might not survive the process (this writing thing is HARD, yo), but this novel. THIS NOVEL, you guys. There were entire weeks were I unabashedly wept every day while writing this novel.

Also:

It's that kind of novel. You might need tissues, is what I'm saying.

There are a couple of things I can tell you at this juncture:

1. The TITLE!!!!!

I love the title. It's the only book I've written to date where my working title became the actual title, and for that I am very proud. It is:

THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE

2. The book (I call it TLTWSG for short) is a YA contemporary stand-alone. Meaning that it is not Unearthly-related. It is not a paranormal romance (although there are parts of this book that are so romantic, sigh) and it does not feature anyone with supernatural powers. That said, I will add that I am always interested in stories where mysterious things happen, and this book is no exception.

3. I say the novel is not Unearthly-related, but TLTWSG is about a girl who is trying to deal with the death of her younger brother, and I think fans of Unearthly will be able to see the connections between what I was writing about in the Unearthly series and what I'm writing about here.

3. The book will be out sometime in early 2015. I know that's a long time to wait. Believe me, I know. Publishing a book is often a game of hurry-up-and-wait. But I will be here in the next year to keep you updated on all of the news: the book description, the cover, the release date, all the fun stuff, as it happens.

So that's what I'll give you for now.

*Takes a deep breath.*

*Eyes the notebook for the next novel.*

 Um, EXCITED. Sheesh, gif people. Spell check.