Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People was named a Walter Award Honor Book in the Teen category for 2022. Congrats to the Teen category winner, The Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, and fellow honoree Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. In the Children’s category, the award went to Red, White and Whole by Rajani LaRocca, with two honor books: Root Magic by Eden Royce and Borders, written by Thomas King and illustrated by Natasha Donovan. So exciting!
Read the full press release from We Need Diverse Books HERE.
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People has been named a National Book Award Finalist in the category of Young People’s Literature, along with:
We’re approaching launch day for REVOLUTION IN OUR TIME, my non-fiction book about the Black Panther Party! I’m so excited that this book will finally be in the world, after working on it for nearly a decade.
The Panthers’ story is incredibly powerful, but has often been misunderstood or deliberately misrepresented. Digging for the truth has been fascinating. The research process took me all around the country!
It was a pleasure to serve as a judge for the 2017 National Book Awards, along with Suzanna Hermans, Brendan Kiely, Meg Medina, and Alex Sanchez. We read hundreds of books to arrive at our long list and finalists.
When twelve-year-old Robyn Loxley set out to save her parents, she never could’ve predicted that she would become Robyn Hoodlum, leader of the rebellion against the harsh government led by Ignomus Crown. But Robyn’s attempt to free her parents has failed, and on top of that, her friends have been captured. And now Crown has given her 72 hours to turn herself in–or else.
Now Robyn must decide between sacrificing herself, saving her parents and friends, or advancing the rebellion. With the stakes higher than ever, will Robyn be able to succeed?
With an unforgettable heroine and a diverse band of characters, readers will be on the edge of their seats in this action-packed, much-anticipated series conclusion.
This fall, I’ll be doing a brief residency at Hedgebrook, a women’s writing and retreat center in Washington State. Applications for the 2015 Hedgebrook residencies are up online and the deadline is September 3, 2014.
Basically, I’ll be living in a cabin in the woods and writing, writing! Sound good? Yeah.
I’m very excited about this opportunity. I’ll look forward to posting more specifically about my experience there, but by the time I get back, it’ll be too late to apply for next year, so if you want it, get on it!
Q: I have been querying agents, but I also just received an offer from COOL PUBLISHING HOUSE, from an editor I met at a conference. I want to get an agent before I agree to the deal. What should I do?
A: Email the agents with whom you have open queries, and let them know about your offer. This will probably move your submission to the top of the pile. Tell them you need to hear back by a certain time. Within a week, or two weeks, for example. Near the end of your stated time frame, follow up again. Most agents will respond to one of these messages, either to open a conversation with you or to directly decline to represent you. If they don’t respond, move on.
Q: Do I go with the first one to get back to me?
A: No! Well, not unless you have done your homework and you already know that particular agent is your first choice person. You need to hear back from as many as possible. And you need to interview them, to be sure their working style is really a good match for you.
Q: But the offer is hanging out there! The editor is pressuring me to respond. She’s so excited. I don’t want to lose an opportunity.
A: That’s great. But if the editor loves your book and her house wants to publish it, that enthusiasm is not likely to fade. When they get to the point of making an offer, the editor and the house have already spent a fair amount of time and energy thinking about your book. They are on board. If they give you an expiration date for the offer, it is usually a pressure tactic. Generally such offers will be renewed, especially if you explain up front that you are excited about their offer, but that you need to get an agent in place before you feel comfortable accepting any publishing offer. Keep them apprised of your timeline, and they will most likely stick with you.
Q: Can’t I accept the offer myself, and then just have the agent negotiate the contract?
A: You can, but there are some basic terms that you may inadvertently agree to upon accepting the offer that may be harder to change later, such as whether you are selling World rights vs. North American rights, in just English or all languages, audio rights, whether there will be royalty escalation, etc. An agent will help you get the best deal from the get-go.
Q: How do I know that an agent is right for me? Interview them?
A: Yup. Set up a phone call and ask them things like:
— How much editing do you do with your writers before submitting a manuscript to editors?
— How much communication do you have with your clients? How do you generally work with people?
–How much transparency do you maintain during the submission process? Do you tell me who the manuscript is out with? Will you show me the feedback and rejections I receive?
— Do you represent all the types of material I write?
— I hope to publish many more books after this one. How can you help shape a writer’s overall career?
— What would be your strategy in responding to the offer I have on the table?
Q: I’d be so excited if anyone at all wanted to represent me! My book is going to be published!
A: Yeah, but you are looking to make a long-term business partnership here. You don’t want to rush into it. The agent that negotiates your first book deal will always be attached to that project. You will be connected to and working with that person, or that agency, in some capacity, for the rest of your life. When you think of it like that, you can see that spending a couple of weeks making sure the agent/agency is a good fit for you will be time well spent.
Q: My editor made some suggestions that I don’t agree with. But my book is under contract, and I feel like I have to do what she says. She feels really strongly.
A: Are we talking about small-scale line edits? You don’t have to make these, but if your editor feels strongly, it’s worth considering why. Or perhaps she has requested an overhaul to a single certain scene or plot issue or characterization or subplot? Changes on that level you can generally work out in conversation with your editor. Don’t be afraid to discuss and disagree with her comments. Perhaps you can start by pointing out the place of concern, and asking her to expand on or rephrase her comments. She will probably be happy to do so. Your editor wants your book to be the best it can be, and much of what makes it so will be subjective. Your opinions matter as much as hers do, if not more.
Q: So…I don’t have to make all the changes?
A: It’s your book, in the end. The editor wouldn’t have acquired it if she didn’t see merit in what was already there. It’s perfectly okay to disagree with aspects of your editor’s feedback. But I would suggest discussing the conflict with your editor, rather than simply refusing to make the change. If you can have a brief phone call about the particular scenes or issues in question, it might clear things up. Sometimes editors are wrong. More often they have simply not stated their case well enough, or have come at their comment from the wrong angle. (Much like how writers have to revise for clarity, sometimes editors do, too!) It’s possible you can come up with a solution that feels good to both of you.
Q: What if the changes are bigger?
I hope that prior to contract, you had a chance to talk to your editor about her vision for your book, and that she gave you a general sense of what kinds of changes she would like to see. If you are totally blindsided by huge changes requested in the editorial letter that is a different kind of problem. Large-scale, deal-breaker changes the editor feels must happen should always come up as part of the initial acquisition discussion. Your editor needs to understand and share your basic vision for the book, or else you will be working toward two different end products, and it may be a struggle to agree on anything.
But it’s also worth mentioning that different people have very different ideas about what constitutes a “big” change. For some writers, deleting a single favorite scene might seem major and crushing, while others will hack and slash and rewrite their own work without mercy. Editors may make seemingly “big” suggestions that actually turn out to be manageable when you have sat and considered them for a while. I have been asked to do things like cut a main character, reorder significant story events, write a fresh opening section, or even alter a point-of-view. Things like that challenge me, and I won’t always do them, but more often than not, the book benefits from me taking time to consider what the story would look like if I did make the change.
There will always be small (and medium) things you go back and forth about with your editor, but if you feel like you are on the same page about the book, you can feel confident that your editor is at least trying to push you in the right direction. It is always a good idea to listen carefully to her comments, because maybe there is something in her feedback that you can use, even if your final changes do not take the exact shape of her original suggestion.
Here is a really great article on giving critiques, from Burlington Writers Workshop. “On Giving Feedback” by Peter Biello: CLICK HERE.
I find one of the things I spend the most time talking with fellow writers about is the balance between trusting your own instincts on your work and trusting the feedback you get from others. The Marco Polo analogy in this article is the best metaphor I have seen to describe something I have spent a while trying to define. In a cacophony of voices calling you to move in different directions, you are the one who has to make your own way through the pool.
Q: I recently sold my book to COOL PUBLISHING HOUSE! I have accepted their offer based on a deal memo, but haven’t seen a contract yet. The book is practically ready for copy editing….Still, no contract. It’s been months, and I’m getting nervous.
A: Congratulations! Keep revising. Your contract is coming.
Q: But it’s been months. How much longer should I expect to wait for my contract?
A: It varies. Sometimes you wait a long time. Several months, at a minimum. This is normal. The contract has to be drawn up, then your agent reviews it and negotiates with the publisher’s contracts department to get you the best possible terms. There is a lot of back-and-forth and discussions and checking with higher-ups for approval. And the contracts department staff deals with a lot of contracts at once, not only yours. So does your agent.
The fastest I ever received a contract after a deal memo was about two months. My longest wait: over a year! (That was a slightly unusual situation.) And yes, slow contracts means you won’t get paid your “advance on signing” until several weeks (or months) after signing–you will have to review the contract, sign it, return it, and then the publishing house will have to cut you a check and mail it. It often takes 4-6 weeks or more to turn around an advance payment after signing.
Q: So…they haven’t changed their mind about publishing me? They haven’t decided they hate my novel? I didn’t do anything wrong?
A: Nope. It’s a process thing. You can relax. Check in with your agent now and again to be sure progress is happening. It’s frustrating to wait, and a little bit stressful at times, but this is a slow-moving business in a lot of ways. You’ll get your contracts and your money.
Keep in mind that until you sign, your book remains 100% yours. It’s actually in the publisher’s interest to have you sign a legal document as soon as possible, because it defines the scope of their rights. It is in your interest to make sure you (through your agent) have secured the best possible terms for the contract before you sign. The lengthy negotiation process, in this case, generally serves to protect you.
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People was named a Walter Award Honor Book in the Teen category for 2022. Congrats to the Teen category winner, The Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, and fellow honoree Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo. In the Children’s category, the award went to Red, White and Whole by Rajani LaRocca, with two honor books: Root Magic by Eden Royce and Borders, written by Thomas King and illustrated by Natasha Donovan. So exciting!
It was a pleasure to serve as a judge for the 2017 National Book Awards, along with Suzanna Hermans, Brendan Kiely, Meg Medina, and Alex Sanchez. We read hundreds of books to arrive at our long list and finalists.
When twelve-year-old Robyn Loxley set out to save her parents, she never could’ve predicted that she would become Robyn Hoodlum, leader of the rebellion against the harsh government led by Ignomus Crown. But Robyn’s attempt to free her parents has failed, and on top of that, her friends have been captured. And now Crown has given her 72 hours to turn herself in–or else.