Official Maria V. Snyder Blog

With SCENT OF MAGIC being released today, I'd thought I'd squeeze in a bunch of local book signings this weekend to help promote the book and to take advantage of the holiday rush.  While I would love to travel all over the world to meet my readers, I'm staying close to home during this busy time of year.  Sorry about that! I'm posting my schedule below just in case you happen to be in central PA this weekend or in early January  :)  Or think you'd like to take a road trip and come hang out and chat with me.  I'm also posting it because not everyone gets my newsletter or opens it right away (I know - hard to believe isn't it?). Schedule: December 21, 2012 Book Signing at  http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2916 Barnes & Noble Booksellers (Red Rose Commons, 1700 H Fruitville Pike, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 17601, 717-290-8171). 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. December 22, 2012   Book Signing at  http://www.cupboardmarker....

It's been a busy week of promotion!  In case you missed the news, here's a re-cap: Week 1 of the SCENT OF MAGIC blog tour started on Monday.  My publisher is giving away an amazing prize package and you can enter to win this at any of these stops (US/Canada only), and you can win a copy of SCENT OF MAGIC at these stops as well - a few are open to international readers (see below). Here are the stops: Dec. 10th - Parajunkee - Review and Q&A (learn if I like pie better than cake) - International Dec. 11th - Paranormal Urban Fantasy Reviews - Review Dec. 12th - Read Now Sleep Later - Q&A podcast (find out what's in store for the new Study book) - International Dec. 13th - The Book Heroine - Review Dec. 14th - We Fancy Books - Playlist (find out the music I listen to while writing) - International Also the UK office produced a fantastic video book trailer to promote the book.  You can watch it here: http://youtu.be/m8th2dPWMa0 And the Australian o...

Yes, lots of shouty capitals - but the UK office of MIRA Books just posted a brilliant video trailer for SCENT OF MAGIC.  They produced the one for TOUCH OF POWER last year and this one is just as fabulous!  It's just a one minute video to help promote the book. Have a look and tell me what you think! http://youtu.be/m8th2dPWMa0  

Well the title pretty much sums it up - I'm promoting the soon-to-be released SCENT OF MAGIC, book 2 in my Healer Series.  It's due out December 18th in the USA, Canada, UK and Australia/New Zealand.  The Blog tour has a number of fun posts - A guest post by Belen being one, and my Christmas traditions being another.  There will be reviews, an interview, a podcast and a chance to win a free copy of SCENT OF MAGIC at every stop.  A couple blogs will be open to international readers for a chance to win. Here's the line up: Dec. 10th - Parajunkee - Review and Q&A Dec. 11th - Paranormal Urban Fantasy Reviews - Review Dec. 12th - Read Now Sleep Later - Q&A podcast Dec. 13th - The Book Heroine - Review Dec. 14th - We Fancy Books - Playlist Dec. 17th - Two Chicks on Books - Belen POV Dec. 18th - The Starry-Eyed Review - Guest Post Dec. 19th - A Great Read - Review Dec. 20th - YA Reads - Guest Post Dec. 21st - The Book Hookup - Revi...

It is my pleasure to introduce to you Emily McKay, author of THE FARM.  It's a YA post-apocalyptic story with these creatures called Ticks (very similar to vampires).  She asked me to read her book back in the summer for a cover blurb and I LOVED it!  My blurb was something like this: Be prepared to stay up all night - I did!  The main characters, Lily and Mel are very unique and likable.  The plot is different enough to stand out among the current wave of dystopians/post-apocalyptic novels. Below is a fascinating interview with Emily and she is also offering two prizes as giveaways.  One is a signed copy of THE FARM and the other is a Vampire Apocalypse Survival Kit.  The giveaway is open to everyone (yes, including international).  To enter, post a comment to this blog by December 11th, 11:59 p.m. EST and please include an email addy so we can contact you! Here's the cover copy : Life was different in the Before: before ...

I did another giveaway for an early copy of SCENT OF MAGIC for those commenting on their favorite minor/obscure character from one of my books.  The response was wonderful and I thought I'd give away a book to one of my blog readers and to one of my Goodreads friends. Congratulations to Rywn who won a copy and to Rachel on Goodreads who also won a copy!!  Keep checking my blog as I'm doing a 10 day blog tour starting December 10th and we're giving away 10 copies of SCENT OF MAGIC!! The results for favorite minor/obscure character are in: #1 Fisk - 14 (He first appeared in MAGIC STUDY) #2 Kiki - 9 #3 Belen - 8 Rand - 7 Pazia - 5 Logan, Reema, Moon Man, Leif, Mom, Flea, Nutty - 3 Dax, Mara, Sheepy, Fire Warper, Death Lilys, Noelle, Dilana, Commander, Perl, Zitora - 2 Bain, Irys, Alethea, Maren, Tula, Esau, Quartz, Cog, Eve, Nic, Heli - 1 And just for fun - Can anyone tell me which book Beevan appears in?  He's a very obscur...

I had a celebration and give away over on my Facebook Author Page last week, celebrating hitting 4000 likes.  Pretty exciting for me and I asked people to leave a comment on who their favorite character was from one of my books.  The response was overwhelming (yay!) and I tallied the "votes" and thought I share with my blog readers. I also thought, since I have a box of SCENT OF MAGIC books sitting in my office, I'd offer a signed copy to a random commenter on my blog.  Now this time I want to know who your favorite obscure/minor character of mine is :)  Contest open until November 23 - and please leave a contact email so I can notify you if you win (Goodreads friends you don't need to put your email - I can find you :) Favorite Characters of my Facebook Readers: #1 Valek - 236 #2 Yelena - 151 #3 Ari and Janco - 65 Avry - 39 Opal - 37 Trella - 23 Belen - 11 Devlen - 10 Kade, Leif & Kiki - 9 Kerrick - 8 Moon Man - 6 Flea - 5 The Comm...

For those who don't subscribe to my email newsletter and aren't on Facebook, then here's something you might not have heard about :)

When I was in Australia last year a newspaper wanted to know what five books changed me.  I thought this was a very difficult question - so many books influenced me over the years, but after much thought I came up with this list: Frederick by Leo Lionni - this story is one of the first books I remember my mother reading to me. It's about a family of five field mice getting ready for the winter. Four of the mice work hard to collect enough food, but one, Fredrick doesn't help out at all. He's too busy collecting daydreams. The story taught me that a daydreamer does have a place in a family. Risk by Dick Francis - before finding this book when I was fourteen, I'd been reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys mysteries. While I enjoyed them, they were starting to get predictable. Risk, was an entirely different mystery. Written in first person point of view, the action didn't stop and I could never close the book at the end of the chapter. This fast-paced story te...

Way back when I was an aspiring novelist, I dreamed of being published and of having a book on a shelf (yes, this was before eBooks and no, I'm not telling you how long ago ;).  And that was the dream -a  book on a shelf in a bookstore.  My daydreams did not include readers, reviewers or awards - yes, I knew they existed, but the goal was that physical book. So when Publisher's Weekly gave Poison Study a Starred Review seven years ago, I was surprised they read the book and then disappointed because on Amazon one star is bad.  My editor quickly explained one Star was an excellent rating for PW and that, yes people ARE going to read my book and it won't just sit on that shelf and gather dust.  I still wasn't convinced until... Readers started emailing me.  Yay!  I loved and still love getting reader emails - yes, even the ones "yelling" at me for various nasty plot twists ;> Here are some great Reader quotes:  Thank yo...

This just in - the paint's a little wet so be careful not to smudge it ;>  Cover art for SCENT OF MAGIC for the UK edition.  Which will be released 18 December 2012. So?  What do you think?  I love the colors and there are some really neat elements.  But...white?  Not the uniform I imagined, but it's eye catching, which is what the cover art is supposed to do -get the book noticed. If you like to read the first chapter of SCENT OF MAGIC here's a link:  http://www.mariavsnyder.com/books/som.php   I don't have it linked to my website yet - I'm working on updating my website this weekend. Also any bloggers/reviews the ARC is up on Netgalley - you have to be approved to access it.  Please only download if you're planning to post a review - my son starts university next year ;> For my Australian readers, I now have the cover for SCENT OF MAGIC thanks to Braiden Asciak who managed to get the cover before I did *insert...

I'm excited to have an interview with Morgan Keyes, the author of the middle-grade book, DARKBEAST!  It's a wonderful book and I recommend it for ALL ages.  Don't be fooled by the title - it's not scary.  And those of you familiar with Mindy Klasky's writing might recognize a similar style and humor (hint, hint ;>) And I'm offering a copy of DARKBEAST to one random commenter - BUT you have to take the Darkbeast quiz   ( http://www.morgankeyes.com/?page_id=17 )  and tell us what your Darkbeast is in the comment to win!!  Also please include your email addy so I can get in touch with you. The contest is open until Friday, September 28th at midnight Eastern time.  See the interview below to find out MY Darkbeast. Cover copy: In Keara’s world, every child has a darkbeast—a creature that takes dark deeds and emotions like anger, pride, and rebellion. Keara’s darkbeast is Caw, a raven. Caw is her constant companion, and they are magi...

Last weekend my husband had a number of events to attend for his job (historical chocolate manager for M&M/Mars) and I happily tagged along.  One of those events was a NASCAR race - the one in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday, September 8.  Well, I'm not a NASCAR fan - football is my sport, however, I like to experience new things and this invite wasn't just a couple of seats in the bleachers.  Oh no!  You see Mars sponsors Kyle Busch's car - #18 and we had full access to...well, everything.  Rodney, Kyle & Me before the start of the race - Kyle a LOT happier then at the end :( Rodney and Joe Gibbs - owner of Kyle's car.  Before the race, I did a bunch of reading about the Sprint Cup and how only the top twelve can race for the championship (Kyle missed it by 1 point!), but I learned so much during my day at the races.  First, there is a ton of effort in getting the car ready - there's a sense of urgency and little...

...my new look.  Not me, me (no purple hair...yet!), but my blog.  My fabulous, talented, sweet friend Sarah put this together for me.  I love it - it includes many of my favorite things.  Travel, writing and tea!  I'm sipping some now - English Breakfast decaf ;> Sooooo...... What do you think? I'm hoping the new look will help motivate me to blog more - I do have ideas and posts ready to be assembled (pictures uploaded, links found, etc...).  Time will tell :)

Well the one problem with having such a wonderful and relaxing vacation is coming home and getting back into the groove.  I don't think I'm there yet.  As you can see by the month-long lag in my blogs, I've haven't been motivated to do much writing. So what have I've been doing?  Driving my daughter around to volleyball practice (she made the high school team), band practice (she plays the flute for the marching band), and to friends houses (she's trying to squeeze every little bit of summer vacation in before school starts on Monday). Celebrating - OUTSIDE IN won the Prism Award in the YA category!! (And I'd thought I'd come in third again :) Going to YA events - I was at the YA FEST in Easton on August 4 and had a blast.  I'll be at PAYA Festival this Saturday the 25th, signing from 2 to 3 p.m.  It's in West Chester, PA - here's a link to the event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/424728464243967/   Doing interviews and writi...

I'm back after almost three weeks at the beach.  It was a wonderfully relaxing time and the only compliant I have about my vacation is....it ended! So what exactly did I do, you ask?  I slept - I caught up on sleep and nap when ever I felt like it! I sat on my beach chair...a lot.  I don't surf or skim board or fish so my time on the sands was either spent sitting or napping or swimming.  We like to wait and go to the beach after 4 pm to avoid the heat, sunburns, and the crowds.  The downside is the lifeguards go home at 5 pm, but the upside, I did meet a few friends - the sand crabs (not sure that's their official name) come out at twilight and were fun to watch skitter sideways around on the sand. I caught up on my pile of magazines, and I read a stack of books.  Here's a list of the books I finished: The Death Cure , by James Dashner The Farm , by Emily McKay (not out yet - but will be soon - look for an intervie...

So I managed to cross off all the items I listed in my Massive To Do list in May - my goal was to get them done in time for my beach vacation and I made it!  Woo Hoo!! Here's the list:  Revise SCENT OF MAGIC  Done - My editor is excited about the revisions! Pub date: Dec 27, 2012 Write a short story for THE BEST LAID PLANS anthology Done. Title: Brand Spanking New . It has returned with editorial comments - revisions are needed. Write a travel article about Australia for b Magazine Done. Write a synopsis for TASTE OF DEATH (bk 3 in the Healer series) Done. (I really like the way this book develops - a new nasty comes into play called the Skeleton King - he's mention in Touch of Power - does anyone remember?).  Comments came back from my agent - revisions are needed. Write a synopsis for another series to be written after Taste Of Death. Done - I only wrote the synopsis for book 1 since I'm a seat of the pants writer and have no idea what book...

This is the last of Bri's posts. Bri - Thanks so much for providing this informative series of posts on how much power a reader has! Amazon Tagging By Bri Clark Well reader dears I have had a wonderful time sharing my little how tos into the power you hold. If you happen to miss  Part I ,   Part II , or  Part III just click the highlighted parts.  Now for the last part into the power you hold it’s tagging…specifically Amazon tagging. The point of tagging is similar to the thought behind a Google search. You type a specific word or phrase and those items come up. So say you are on Amazon and you type in “YA Fantasy” or “Young Adult” in the search bar if Maria’s books have been tagged a lot with these phrases then her books will pop up. The same thing goes for her name…”Maria V. Snyder” On Amazon, each person is allowed up to 15 tag words or phrases. You’ll need to have an Amazon account and be signed in of course. Here are the tag words and areas ...