The trip to Chicago and Naperville to meet my publishers went wonderfully! So many things happened in 48 hours that I can hardly list them all here. Suffice it to say, from the photos above, that everything went even better than I expected, and this book release is going to be awesome!

Here’s the rundown of the trip. I left Dallas around noon, and arrived a few hours later after a flight filled with turbulence and The Dark Knight on my laptop. When I arrived at the Chicago airport, I was immediately picked up by a sedan. I’ve only been picked up by a sedan once before — this new one was quite different. There was a remote control built into the arm rest that would allow me to change the radio and the temperature of the car, as well as move the driver’s seat forward without even asking — clearly built for those who wish to avoid speaking with the peasants . Also, the car was stocked with magazines one does not normally see. The one I read had an article aimed at those who make over $50 million per year. One listing was selling a jet (yes, a full featured, private jet) and another was a $39 million vacation home in France (note the word vacation).

Bathroom Mirror TV

As evidenced by the photo I brought back, the hotel was wonderful. I got a big screen, HD TV in my room (Norbit was on, ha ha) plus, the infamous Television-In-The-Bathroom-Mirror my Twitter followers have so enjoyed. Whilst brushing my teeth, I managed to catch the news. I don’t know how I would have survived otherwise (I might have been forced to watch the news while not brushing my teeth — the horror!).

The first evening of the trip, my publishers, agent and I met at a wonderful restaurant to discuss plans for the next day’s meetings. I got to talk with my publishers for the first time in person, and meet most of the core team that will be managing my book. They have so many wonderful and exciting ideas coming up, especially with the release only about six months away (this Fall!). It was very odd, since it seemed that nearly everyone in the company had read The Farfield Curse already! I can’t even begin to say how thrilling it was to see how everyone was behind the book.

The Book Cow

I got a tour of the offices of Sourcebooks while I was there. The most interesting thing of all was the Book Cow, which is covered in writing and stacked high with books on its back. Notice the drum on the left: as my editor explained, it is company tradition that anytime someone has big news, they must immediately dash to the drum and pound it until everyone comes out of their offices to find out what happened. He told me it will get a good beating the day my book is released

Most of what we discussed will be slowly released via my website here and BranHambric.com (which will be receiving its new design soon!). However, there are some things I can say. First, the Kaleb Nation Facebook Page (which is being run by the same people who manage the Twilight Facebook with 2 million members!) is now the official page for me on that site! I know many of you have been adding my personal page, but I only add people I personally know: if you join the official page, I check in a lot to see what people are saying.

Another thing, since we have such a short time until the release, I will have many big updates coming up, including things like the release date, the cover art, preorder times, etc. We are planning something at least once a month, so be sure to check back or follow me on Twitter so you get the latest  (the cover art, I will say, should be here VERY soon!). I’ll keep everyone updated!

ADDED: I just realized that I had the meeting with my publishers on March 6 — exactly 1 year after I got the call from my agent saying Sourcebooks was interested in my novel! Fate is a funny thing…

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Posted in Bran Hambric, Photos
Tags: Dominique Raccah, Lyron Bennett, Publishing, Richard Curtis, Sourcebooks

When I was about 12 years old, I stumbled upon a book at the Round Rock Public Library titled “What’s Your Story?” by Marion Dane Bauer. It was a book for kids that described certain steps to tell a story well. Finding that book was a huge milestone in my life.

It was about two years before I started on The Farfield Curse (then, I was writing a fun but abyss of a fantasy story called Enchanted Memories, which had nothing to do with Enchantments, and nothing to do with Memories, but surprisingly enough had many of the same character names as is in The Farfield Curse). I was very new to writing, and when I found this book at the library, I realized suddenly that there was actually such thing as a book about writing a book.

After later miraculously finding another guide by Phyllis A Whitney in our attic, I was led to my first voluntary foray into the upper floor of the library, where the adult books were kept (a milestone in itself). There were about two shelves of books that fit between the decimal numbers for Authorship and Writing Novels: and I am almost certain that I read every book there at least once. I would literally fill up backpacks and baskets with them, bringing every guide on writing that I could find back home, or spreading them out on the library carpet to see if it had anything interesting I had not yet read about.

I discovered, to my dismay, that publishing a book is not as simple as calling up the editor of Scholastic (to me back then, all publishers were Scholastic or HarperCollins, who did Lemony Snicket). I also discovered that my cousin could not be my literary agent, that you actually have to finish a book before sending it out, and that you cannot telephone head editors to pitch your story idea, even if you found their number somehow (sorry Liz at Scholastic).

Thanks to that first book by Marion Dane Bauer, I was led to a treasury of others like it, and slowly formed a list that I re-read at least every 6 months, until I pretty much had them memorized. All the research built up was an enormous help, and having a basic knowledge of publishing lingo is priceless for query letters.

The following books are the ones I recommend to anyone who asks me about writing, or anyone who is already an author and wants something humorous and informative dealing with the writing life:

How To Grow A Novel — by Sol Stein

This book is wonderful throughout. The title is pretty much burned into my memory as a Good Writing Book, so that if anybody asks me what I recommend, this is the first one that comes to mind. I don’t know what it is about it, but this book seems to focus highly on that elusive ‘unique voice’ that makes a good story. It doesn’t really go over commas or correct grammar, but rather how to tell an engaging story and how to hold the attention of readers with your words. One of the biggest things it taught me was a technique of never giving the reader what they want, and in the process giving them exactly what they want. Confusing? Read the book. You’ll understand.

How To Be Your Own Literary Agent — by Richard Curtis

Before the trolls start to hop up and down, screaming that Richard Curtis is my agent and of course I’ll promote his book, there is a secret you should know: I read this book 5 years before I ever knew who Richard Curtis was (yes, it was a very welcome surprise). This book was on my Annual Reading List, because not only did it refresh me on all the duties of agents and the process of getting published, it has a nifty little appendix that describes what a ‘fair’ book deal is (aka $) and a ‘good’ book deal is (aka $$$). The title makes me laugh: there are so many things that agents do, you leave the book all the more convinced that you need to get a good agent, and fast.

Richard has recently offered this book entirely free online through Google.com, and you can read it here. Also there are links on how to buy it from stores (really, it is worth it. When my editor says things in publishingese on the phone, I am secretly paging through this to translate).

The First Five Pages — Noah Lukeman

This book was one of the biggest influences in helping me get an agent. It is very thin (only about 200 pages) but the advice in it is absolutely invaluable. Besides going over the things to keep in mind for the first five pages in your novel (practically undisputed as the most important part of the book) it also goes over Characterization, Dialogue, Narration and all sorts of important elements that go into the story.

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Sometimes The Magic Works — Terry Brooks

If you are looking for a good inspirational story about a real bestselling author, this is the one. I have honestly (and ashamedly) never read a Terry Brooks novel (it’s on my list… I started on Magic Kingdom For Sale just before I moved to college, and left it at home). But that didn’t stop me from enjoying this story in its entirety, as the author goes over his life as a writer, certain stories from his experiences, and the things that he has learned along the way that made him the success he is.

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Beyond The Bestseller — Richard Curtis

Another book by my agent: this one I actually read after I had signed with him, and was searching the Austin Public Library for anything by him. I found this old one (originally from the 1980′s) and read it about 4 times all the way through. It is one of the funniest accounts ever from a literary agent’s point of view, telling of previous clients, wonderful book deals, pseudo-possessed authors (and editors), and much more. In the midst of the humorous stories about the writing life, from an agent’s perspective, there are scores of writing tips to be gleamed.

If you have any other great books for writers, leave it in the comments!

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Posted in About Me, Writing
Tags: Books, Richard Curtis, Writing

I am suddenly torn between two goods.

On the New York Times children’s bestseller list, Stephenie Meyer holds the #1 spot for children’s series. But, at #2, D.J.MacHale holds the spot for the Pendragon series.

My ‘STEPHENIE ROCKS’ flag suddenly wavers for a second, since D.J.MacHale…has the same agent as me. That means he’s practically Literary Family.

Yoiks. It’s like rooting for your friend to be President, but then yo Momma decides to run. Whose flag to wave this week?

Shhh. Don’t tell the Twilighters. My momentary hesitation is likely grounds for expulsion from Steph’s list. Hey, we’re talking hard decisions here! This could very well be The Ultimatum: like letting your mom drop in the pit of fire to jump up and save your wife from the vipers. Who to choose?

You’re all smacking me on the head now. Look, Kaleb, you say. Don’t you, like the majority of humans, have two hands? Just wave TWO flags, idiot.

Or rather, if you’re a Twilighter: Idiot! Use one hand to wave the Stephenie flag, and the other to smack yourself for considering such an outrage!

Anyhow, in other book news, I just received my ARC of Farworld: Water Keep by J Scott Savage. Also, he’s offered some books for a contest through my site, so I’ll be able to give some away when I get my review up. He’s got a pretty cool cover for it too:

Very watery. I’ll be reporting on it as soon as I can grab a spare moment. Before you run to the store, it’s not out until September, so hold your horses.

Also in publishing, most people just got back from the famous BEA. Someone asked if I’ll be there next year. Um, erm, I don’t know. After all, my book won’t be out until late next year, and publishers don’t bring authors to BEA unless, you know, we’ve done that sell books thing. And speaking of my publishers, they just put up an awesome new website you must check out.

Much prettier than the last one. My name won’t appear under their Authors, I assume, until after I’ve made them enough profit to pay the web designer to turn off Youtube, crawl off the couch, stow away the popcorn, hide the cans of Wolf chili, and add my name. Don’t ask how I know what web designers are like.

I have word of some stuff and if it comes, I’ll most likely have another video: Signing My Book Deal II. The last one was pretty fun, though this one will be shorter so as to avoid my rambling. Keep watch.

Oh, and I bought a keyboard. To make music. Or rather, to make more music- much easier than clicking all the notes in with my mouse. Anyhow, I just finished a new song draft. It’s another soundtrack score, though I’m still working on the mastering and some small edits. In this one, I have a cool piano line. Keep watch for it here.

In case you didn’t notice on the front page, TwilightGuy.com got almost 300,000 hits in the first month. It’s much more now, thanks to being a few days into the month on June. Pretty good for a start

I shall exit with this, my favorite new song of the Second-Half of 2008:

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Posted in Authors, Twilight, Writing
Tags: Books, Bran Hambric, DJ Machale, Richard Curtis, Stephenie Meyer, Writing