Can’t see it? Click here.

Book Expo America 2009 was a BLAST! It is quite an amazing thing to go into an airplane-hangar-sized conference hall, and be surrounded by others from your own world of writing and publishing. I met countless authors and got a stack of books (including an advance copy of Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, a signed copy of the Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, and loads more).

My book signing for The Farfield Curse started at 11:00 AM, and there was already a short line formed. Once the time hit, people began to come from everywhere, and the signing didn’t really stop! There were so many people, we actually ran out of books, so that by the time the signing was over I simply couldn’t sign any more because there were none left to hand out. Hopefully this is a good sign for how it will do in stores

I was interviewed for Borders Media by the one and only Pel from the Twilight Lexicon. It was a bit odd since it was my first film interview, and I had never been in a studio set up like it. There were five cameras, all set up at different angles, and they wired me up with a microphone and had lighting hanging all around. I also had to get film makeup put on — a first for me, and a bit itchy (it had to be explained to me that you actually have to wash it off afterward, ha ha). After BEA we headed over to Books Of Wonder, where I saw Tiger Beat play. Tiger Beat is a rock band entirely made of YA authors, with my editor Daniel Ehrenhaft on lead guitar and Libba Bray doing vocals. YES they were very good.

Even more exciting was the nearly-half-page article about me, TwilightGuy.com and my Twitter/Youtube stuff in Publishers Weekly. As with the opening of pre-orders and the signing of Brandon Dorman, publishers generally tell their authors nothing until after we’ve read about it in the papers: I learned via the article that Bran Hambric will have front-of-store placement at Borders bookstore and a 75,000 copy first printing! There are no extra zeroes in that number. It was easily 4 times what I was expecting!

Here are some photos from the event (special thanks to my friend Becka for taking them!)

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST >>>

Comments
Posted in About Me, Bran Hambric, Photos, Videos
Tags: BEA, Book Expo America, Book Signing, Borders, Bran Hambric, Maureen Johnson, Publishers Weekly, Twilight Lexicon

Tomorrow morning, I’m flying out for Book Expo America in New York. I can’t even begin to say how excited I am for this. Those who have followed my writing journey know that this trip is nearly six years in the making, and even though the release date of the book will perhaps be an even bigger thing, this trip is the prologue to that day. Someone told me that my BEA appearance could be considered as my debut to the professional publishing world, a way of my publishers introducing me to the literary circles for the first time.

It was calmly explained to me that debut authors are not usually brought to BEA by their publishers, and that for my publishers to pay for my appearance there means quite a lot as to how much confidence they have in my success as a writer. The fact that I am even going to BEA overrules the many grueling years I expected I would have to go through as a debut author before I was even noticed. It’s one of those things I wish I could go back and tell my 14-year-old self would happen, back when I had just started on this book: tell myself that Bran Hambric would actually one day be a real book at Book Expo America six years later.

It feels funny now, because for years I’ve wondered what it would feel like before something like this, though I didn’t really imagine I would get to experience the feeling myself. So, for those of you who, like me, searched every author’s manual at the library for the answers about how it feels when you finally Get There, I’ll say it’s really like delicious anxiety: something you’re slightly afraid to do but you enjoy the sheer naive nervousness of at the same time. Should I bring my own signing pen? If I wear a suit will I be overdressed? Will anyone even show up at my BEA signing? What happens if I sign a book wrong? Is it bad if my autograph doesn’t look exactly the same every time? Any experienced author knows these answers. I do not, because this is my first time. But perhaps by this time next year, after I’ve signed a countless number of books at stores and events across the country, the same thing will happen then, and I’ll wish I could go back and tell me something grand and glorious now.

If you are an author or a bookseller or anyone who is planning to be at BEA, I would love to meet you. I will be hovering around the booths early Friday morning, and then at the Sourcebooks booth (#3977) at 11:00 AM. I will be attending a luncheon and other events throughout the day as well.

Those of you who can’t make the event: I will have lots of video and photos from the signing and the Expo. If there are a few free minutes one of the nights, I will try to broadcast a live BlogTV show from New York. I won’t have much internet access, but I will post on my Twitter if/before that happens. Wish me luck!

Can’t see it? Click here.

Comments
Posted in Bran Hambric, Writing
Tags: BEA, Book Expo America

Can’t see it? Click here.

Whilst in the sunny state of California this weekend, my friend Melanie (famously from M2 Productions on Youtube) took me to DISNEYLAND! It was a great quick vacation to get me all excited before Book Expo America next weekend (and of course, another excuse for some Owl City music)

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST >>>

Comments
Posted in Photos, Videos
Tags: Disneyland

As you can see, the Advance Reader Copies of BRAN HAMBRIC: THE FARFIELD CURSE have finally arrived! Here’s video of me opening the box from my publishers and going a bit nutty when I hold my book for the first time

Can’t see it? Click here.

This moment was truly one of the biggest in my life: getting to hold this book was somewhat symbolic of six years of work on this story and the characters. Of course I’m thrilled to finally be able to see it in print: and very soon, it will be in bookstores all across the country (in hardcover, of course!).

These ARCs and those my publisher still have will now be sent out to key media people and reviewers who will help to promote the book before it comes out. There will also be many ARCs available at Book Expo America coming up at the end of next week, where I will have my first book signing! I’ll make sure there’s plenty of video of that for those of you who can’t make it

If you’d like, you can download the first five chapters of the book completely free at BranHambric.com, as well as pre-order it from nearly any bookstore!

Comments
Posted in Bran Hambric, Videos
Tags: ARCs, BEA, Books, Bran Hambric

DJ MacHale

As we get closer to the 9-9-09 release of BRAN HAMBRIC: THE FARFIELD CURSE, news surrounding the book just seems to keep getting bigger! Already with two wonderful blurbs from authors Kim Harrison and Kaza Kingsley, we now have one more to add: this time, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pendragon series, D. J. MacHale!

The Farfield Curse brims with mystery, magic and fun. Kaleb Nation’s wry sense of humor kept me smiling, even while the mystical sparks flew. Get ready for lots of surprises and watch out for gnomes!

D. J. MacHale, Author of The Pendragon Series

D. J. , who not only wrote the enormously popular Pendragon series, is also a well-known television director, who happened to have worked on the show pilot for Ghostwriter, which was my absolute favorite growing up. Who would have thought that he would eventually write a blurb for my own novel?

You can find out more about D. J. MacHale’s books at his website, and more about The Farfield Curse at www.BranHambric.com (where you can read the first four chapters for free). And a huge thank-you to D. J. MacHale for the wonderful review!

Comments
Posted in Bran Hambric
Tags: DJ Machale, Ghostwriter