DEFY in Paperback!

Today DEFY is officially released in paperback - just in time for holiday shopping!

If you'd like a signed copy, I will be at The King's English from 12-2 this Saturday, November 29 for Small Business Saturday, helping them sell books! (I'm so excited to help get some of my favorite books into reader's hands!)

I am also doing another group signing at the Sandy B&N on Saturday December 13 from 1-3 along with lots of other awesome authors!

If you're not in UT, you can always order from The King's English by calling or going to their website, and requesting to have me personalize it for you. They will let me know and make sure I come in to sign it and they will then ship it to you! (This is the same if you want to pre-order a signed copy of IGNITE!) CLICK HERE for their website!

I've been celebrating in a few different ways: My DEFY BOOK TRAILER was released last week:






(ISN'T IT AMAZING?!?!)

**I've been posting bonus scenes from the DEFY world every two weeks leading up to IGNITE's release on December 30th, including the most recent one from Rylan's point of view yesterday on Wattpad! CLICK HERE TO READ THEM ALL! (I try to respond to all comments, so feel free to let me know what you think!)


**My #DEFYfanArtContest goes until December 6th. Post your entry on Twitter or Instagram and tag me (@SaraBLarson on both) and use the hashtag. If you win, you'll receive a signed copy of DEFY + IGNITE! Here are the details:

 FAN ART - IGNITE ARC Giveaway!!

This one will last until December 6th! Show me your best drawings, paintings, sculptures, music videos, fan trailers, interpretive dances (I'm lenient on the definition of "art" here), or whatever kind of art you excel at, inspired by DEFY and you could win a signed/personalized ARC of IGNITE + a signed/personalized paperback of DEFY*! Tweet me your picture/video or post it on Instagram and make sure to tag me (@SaraBLarson on both sites) so that I see your entry along with hashtags: #IGNITE #giveaway #DEFYFanArtContest. I will comment or reply to let you know I saw it and that you're entered. If I don't respond, I didn't see it so try again and make sure to tag me! If you wish to mail it to me, you can by sending your entry to P.O. Box 1298 Draper, UT 84020. But make sure you send it with plenty of time to reach me!!

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

*this giveaway is the only international giveaway I'll be doing for an ARC of IGNITE

**IGNITE Pre-order contest to win the DEFY Dagger Necklace! 

You have 34 and a half days left to pre-order IGNITE and enter the contest for the chance to win a DEFY dagger necklace plus lots of other awesome prizes! (Everyone who enters gets something!) CLICK HERE for details and to enter! 


I'm grateful for so many things this year, and at the top of my list are my amazing readers and fans! You are all incredible! I can't thank you enough for your support and excitement for Alexa, Damian, and Rylan. I hope you continue to enjoy their journey when IGNITE comes out next month!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! 

Salt Lake Comic Con

This week I will be at Salt Lake Comic Con Thursday, Friday, and Saturday! Will I see you there?

Sara B. Larson Schedule

Signings:

Friday 4:30 - 5:30, Shadow Mountain booth #111 on main expo floor

Saturday 12:30-1:30, Shadow Mountain Booth #111 on main expo floor

***I WILL have an ARC of IGNITE to giveaway to one lucky person who purchases DEFY and gets it signed (which earns you an entry into the drawing). Winner will be drawn at the end of the signing on Saturday!***  (I will also have signed swag for both DEFY and IGNITE for free.)



Panel Schedule: 

*Thursday September 4, 3:00 pm 3:50 pm Katniss Revealed: A Closer Look at The Hunger Games on Film and in Print Room 251A ::

*Thursday September 4, 6:00 pm 6:50 pm Women of Sci- Fi and Fantasy: More Than Just Strong Room 255E ::

*Friday September 5, 1:00 pm 1:50 pm Build a Story Room 255B ::

*Saturday September 6, 2:00 pm 2:50 pm Your Own Visit to Hogwarts: Real- World Potter Magic in Florida and England Room 255F ::

*Saturday September 6, 7:00 pm 7:50 pm The Whedonverse: Why Writers and Creators Love Buffy, Angel, Firefly and the Rest Room 251A ::

*Saturday September 6, 8:00 pm 8:50 pm Dark and Dangerous: The Appeal of the Bad Boy Hero Room 255F ::

Elana Johnson's signing!

I was lucky enough to attend the book launch/signing for Elana Johnson's POSSESSION last week at The King's English in Salt Lake City. Since I ended up in the ER the next day, and on bedrest since then (see last post), the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

Elana and me before her speech

I can't believe the crowd that was there--it was astounding! But then again, I shouldn't be surprised, since she is so amazing, and so well loved. It was a triumphant wonderful night for her, and I couldn't be happier for my friend!

Me and Natalie Whipple

I also got to see so many author friends, like Natalie It was such a fun night. :)

Stacey (MyPileofBooks) and me

Congrats again Elana! Wishing you tons of success in the months and years to come. :)

Carrie Ryan isn't as dark or hollow as you might think...

Okay, so I honestly knew she wasn't dark or hollow, but since her book is called THE DARK AND HOLLOW PLACES, well... I was glad to know for certain that she is actually funny, and smart (a former lawyer!), and inspiring. I was lucky enough to go with Natalie Whipple to see her and get her new book signed last night. I'm so excited that more and more YA authors are coming to SLC to do signings! It is so fun to get out, meet new authors, and see all of my author/writer/book blogging friends in the community.

James Dashner (not only are they friends, they share the same editor), Carrie Ryan, Me, Natalie Whipple

Like I said, I adore going to author signings. I love meeting them, learning about their journeys--well, just learning from them period. Carrie was so inspiring. (Plus she is an absolutely amazing author. Her way with words is absolutely breathtaking. Who else could make a book about zombies into something so beautiful?)

She has an amazing story, but I won't give you all the details here. One of the biggest points she made that stuck with me is to make a plan, and stick with it. She made a ten year plan: she told herself she was going to write a book a year, and revise it, and submit it (be it to agents or editors) every year for ten years. Her goal was to be a full time author by year ten. She reached her goal around year six or seven. (hopefully I got the details right, I'm going off memory.) She (and I) firmly believe in the power of writing goals down, and doing what it takes to make them reality. If you haven't yet, go make some short and long term goals, and write them down. Then do what it takes to make it happen.

Beyond being smart and inspiring, she really lived up to Kiersten White's claim that she's funny. We were laughing the whole time. If you have the chance to see her, I highly recommend it.

Also, she may burn a book and then give it away.

Huh? Yeah, she used I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER by Dan Wells to block the projector while she was talking, and when she picked it back up she'd burned the cover a little bit. I ended up winning it (woohoo!) and Dan was there, so he personalized it for me. Here's what he wrote:

"Sara - this book was personally burned by Carrie Ryan. Dan Wells."

I love book signings.

Ally's book launch for MATCHED!!

I've had this post kind of planned out since last year, when Ally told me about her book deal. I can't believe it's already been a year, and her book is now out! Here are my thoughts then and now:

I am so lucky to be friends with Ally. She is one of the nicest, most generous, kind people I know. Even though she's already published with Deseret Book, Shadow Mountain and soon will be nationally (I KNEW IT!), she never makes me feel inferior for not being published yet. In fact, she makes me feel like I am an equal with her, and sometimes even more knowledgeable. (Which was only true pretty much when it comes to querying agents, because let's face it, I have TONS experience when it comes to that. Ha!). I just knew MATCHED was going to get snatched up, and I was right. I love this book so much, and am so excited for Ally. She deserves this, and I just want to tell every person I know about her book!

Ally and me at Bombay House (her fave), celebrating when she signed with her agent, just over a year ago. We were kind of funny- she took me to dinner when she got her agent, to thank me for helping her so much. Then when I got my agent in the spring, I took her to Benihana (my fave), to thank her for helping me so much! You'd think it'd be the other way around, but we're silly like that.

She has worked so hard, and never given up, despite some truly difficult obstacles on her path to publication. She's written some amazing books for DB and SM, but I know MATCHED is going to be something beyond her wildest dreams. I am so, so happy for my friend, and can't wait to see what happens next.

Now, here we are, a year later, and boy was I right! MATCHED is pretty much the most talked about book of 2010, and her launch party was a HUGE success. Since I couldn't find my usb to download the pics I took, my friend (and book blogger: My Pile of Books) Stacey let me use some of her pics instead.

Stacey and I at lunch at Mazza's

The gang at Mazza's! The Utah author community is so fabulous, I am very lucky to live here.

Ally is so funny, I love listening to her speak. She always has the crowd laughing and is very open about her journey. Someday I hope to be like her. :)

Ally signing MY book! This was such a huge moment, owning my own copy of MATCHED, and having her sign it! (That unfortunately got rushed--I waited to get in line, so that I'd have time to talk to her without a lot of people behind me, but instead, they let her talk to all the people ahead of us and then told her she had to rush through the end of the line. Bummer. That's okay though, I'm glad I got to talk to her for a minute at least.)

Stacey, me and Ally (Yes, I'm gigantaur. I'm even crouching down a little bit.)

Ally is such a lovely person, and even though she's way busier now than she was a year ago, I'm still grateful to call her my friend. This kind of success couldn't have happened to a better person. I'm so, so happy for you, Ally! I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating the release of your book!

Julie Berry Signing: In which I channel Halloween early

On Wednesday I had the opportunity to go to a signing for my friend Julie Berry and we had the bonus of Jessica Day George being there as well! They are both very fun and interesting to listen to, and I love both of their books.

Jessica is ADD (or so she claims), hence the knitting while answering questions.

Now, the reason why I "channel Halloween early" in this post, is because 1. I have bloody hair in all the pictures (dried, don't worry, I wasn't dripping or anything) and 2. I have staples in my scalp.

Yep, the hits keep on coming. In this case, in the form of cracking my head open on my granite countertop when I was standing up too fast without making sure I was far enough away from the ledge. I spent the afternoon in the Instacare, but I wasn't going to let a little thing like that deter me from seeing Julie. She was here from Massachusetts, hello! I haven't been allowed to wash my hair since the injury, hence the dried-on-blood-hair in the pictures. I finally get to wash it today. Hallelujah! (Can you say hat days?) So, ya'll wanted to see pictures of me looking not-so-great? Then read on--or look on, rather.

I went with my friends, book blogger Stacey (Aubrey) at My Pile of Books, and Jena. Since I rarely get to see Julie, when she said she was coming to Utah for some signings, we decided to go to dinner after one of them.

We hit up Cheesecake Factory, yum yum! (And yep, still rockin' the bloody hair. Luckily the staples are on the top/back of my head and not easily visible. Though that would have been kind of cool....)

Yeah, I look about like the day I'd had. But Julie is so adorable, I had to get a picture with her! I love her YA books, and have heard so many great things about her "boy books," The Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys, that I got one for my sons. If any of you have any little boys or know any little boys (probably age 5-12) these books would be a great gift idea with the Holidays coming up. They are funny, inventive and have amazing illustrations her sister did all throughout. The illustrations actually further the story, so they aren't just for fun to look at. Check 'em out!

Anyway, despite my injury and the fabulosity (yep, that's so a word) of my bloody, stapled self, it was an awesome night!

So, what books are you hoping to get for Christmas? Or which ones are you going to give to others? I need some ideas... :)

Book Signing for PARANORMALCY!

After this post, you will all want to move to Utah. I'm just warning you now. Why? Because there is such a huge support system of local YA authors in Utah, and we are all made of awesome. Right?

On Saturday, uber-cute Kiersten White came into to town to do a signing at The King's English for her recently released (and already New York Times BESTSELLER!!!!) PARANORMALCY. This book is awesome - if you haven't read it yet, you must. Immediately. Go, now. I'll wait.

Okay, anyway...

Here's a whole bunch of the local authors and aspiring authors who came out to support Kiersten. (There were even more not pictured!) In case you don't recognize faces: Back row, left to right: Mary Beecher Campbell, Windy Aphayrath, Elana Johnson, Sara Raasch (who is technically from Ohio, but was in town visiting *waves at long lost name-twin*!), Me (with the b&w hat), Natalie Whipple, Ali Cross. Front Row, Left to Right: L.T. Elliot, Nichole Giles, Carolyn Vawdrey, Bree Despain
Me and Kiersten who is so funny, cute, and nice and I could keep going, but I seem to be gushing, so I'll stop. Suffice it to say that she's awesome, and I'm so thrilled for her well deserved success. Have I mentioned how awesome her book PARANORMALCY is? Ahem.

Afterwards, my friend Stacey (aka Aubrey who is the founder of MyPileOfBooks - awesome book blog I've raved about previously) went for some shopping and frozen yogurt. Yum yum!

See, now don't YOU want to live in Utah? Don't say I didn't warn you... It's okay. You can come visit anytime.

Congrats again Kiersten!