Praise for Crow's Rest

The 4-star review for Crow's Rest that just came out from San Francisco Book Review reminded me that I never posted an excellent review from my local paper, The Mountain Democrat. So I'm posting a few quotes from each, along with the links to read the entire reviews.

On June 4, 2018, Wendy Schultz of The Mountain Democrat said:

"A haunted castle (one everybody knows), a clash between realities, changelings, fairies and teenage hormones make for a combustible tale that is just beginning. If you love fantasy and characters who continue through a series of books, you’re going to enjoy Angelica R. Jackson’s young adult fantasy adventure series, “Faerie Crossed.”"

You can read the full review in The Mountain Democrat's Between The Covers feature.

In the September 2018 issue of San Francisco Book Review, reviewer Elizabeth Konkel also had praise for Crow's Rest:

"The story focuses on a small group of characters, each one well-defined, whose actions drive the plot forward, even the lovable dog next door has a part to play...Jackson has delightful and often flirty humor woven into a story of courage, adventure, love, secrets, and strength."

You can read the full review on the San Francisco Book Review site.

I'm so happy that Crow's Rest is getting some love, as we're barely a month away from the release of the sequel, Merlin's Stronghold. You can click on the cover below to pre-order Merlin's Stronghold on Kindle (the other formats won't be live until October 23).

Pre-Order Crow's Rest

The release of Crow's Rest from Crow & Pitcher Press on May 22 is going full steam ahead!

That means that you can now pre-order it in print and e-book (the audiobook version will be starting up soon) by following these links:

All e-book formats

Kindle

Paperback

And, as always, you can add it to your Goodreads shelf

While we're talking all things Crow's Rest, don't forget that subscribers to the Crow Tracks newsletter get all the news first. You can sign up here.

Signing at Face in a Book Plus A New Video

The signing, reading, and Q&A at Face in a Book is only a few days away! And if you'll be joining us Saturday at noon, you're in for a treat because I'll be sharing a sneak peek at the illustrated companion to Crow's Rest, which is called A Compendium of the Faer Folke. You might pick up some Faerie lore to help protect you from the Fae!

Here is some more about the Compendium and how this field guide fits in with Crow's Rest:

The town of Crow's Rest may have a California zip code, but it shares a weakening border with Faerie--and Fae forces are making a move into our world.

Good thing there are references like A Compendium of the Faer Folke to help prepare our intrepid heroine, Avery Flynn, for the coming Faeriepocalypse.

Now you can read it too, and discover how to recognize and protect yourself from such creatures as corbin, lycorises, and wyverns.

Don't be caught unawares by the the Fae and their tricksy ways!

If that sounds intriguing, make sure you join us AT NOON on Saturday, June 6th, at Face in a Book in El Dorado Hills Town Center! And don't forget that if you're out of the area, you can also order a signed copy and FiaB will ship it to you after the event. Details on how to order are here.

And if you missed out on watching my episode of Story Connection during its airtimes, you can now watch it whenever you wish on YouTube. In this interview, I talk with host Danna Wilberg about cover art, research and inspiration, and how my writing journey played out. It's worth a watch!

You can get a signed copy of Crow's Rest, even if you're out of my area!

Great news! If you're out of the area and want a signed copy of Crow's Rest, you can pre-order one at Face in a Book and they'll ship it to you after the June 6th event! Just call the store at (916) 941-9401 and they'll take all your info. And you'll be supporting an independent bookstore!

Their hours are (PST):
Mon-Fri 9:00 AM- 8:00 PM
Saturday 10:00 AM- 8:00 PM
Sunday 8:00 AM- 6:00 PM (summer hours for farmer's market days)

Bonus trivia about Face in a Book: this crow mask picture was taken right outside the bookstore's back door!

What Do Pre-Orders Mean for Authors?

 (This post appeared in my slot at the Operation Awesome blog, but I'm sharing here too)

A few weeks ago, my book Crow's Rest showed up on Amazon as available to pre-order in paperback, and of course I had to tell everybody about it. But once the squealing was done, all kinds of questions about what pre-ordering does (and does not) mean for the book and author came up.

Firstly, I had to explain to a few less-publishing-savvy friends that pre-ordering it now means that they still won't get the book until it comes out in May 2015. So the inevitable followup question became "what are the advantages of pre-ordering it then?"

I had some vague recollection of being told publishers use those pre-order numbers for things, but I didn't really have a concrete answer to that question (still learning so much about the actual publishing process!). So I asked around among my fellow Fearless Fifteeners, and got the emphatic answer that yes, pre-orders are crucial for any book! Those numbers are used to:

• determine whether the publisher may be interested in your next book
• determine how large that initial print run should be (and possibly whether they should also print a hardcover version)
• to gauge how much buzz the book is getting, and therefore whether it merits some extra swag or promotional budgeting

The exact explanation from my publicist, Jennifer Allis Provost, on that last point was:

Basically, once you've landed a publishing contract you've convinced someone to invest months (sometimes years) and thousands of dollar in your work, with no guarantee that you will sell a single blessed copy. Yep, that's why it's so hard to make it past the submissions stage; since publishers don't have crystal balls, they have no idea what will take off and what will tank.

What changes their mind? Pre-orders.

Let's say you're a debut novelist, and the publisher has assigned you a publicist, done some marketing, and whatever else is involved in their standard package. You know who the publishers go "above and beyond" for? The titles with hundreds or even thousands of pre-orders. Those pre-orders tell the publisher that the author is willing to do her part to get the word out, and do everything she can to make that title a bestseller.

So as a reader, all that pre-ordering does is reserve a copy for you, and to make sure you get it close to the release date.

But for the author, that pre-order is a really great thing to have on their side! Having a better understanding of how this works has prompted me to go through my Goodreads Want to Read list and actually follow through with pre-orders on the titles I'm really excited about.

Feel free to share some titles you're excited for, that you've pre-ordered, in the comments!

Crow's Rest is Available in Paperback for Preorder!

I was stalking my own book on Goodreads yesterday (we writers can't help ourselves) and noticed something new on the Crow's Rest page:

a small note saying other editions (1) led me to click, and to discover that gasp my book has an ISBN!

Some further poking around led me to Amazon.com, where I discovered it's available for preorder in paperback!!!!!
(I write YA and have a literary license to use this many exclamation points; don't try this at home)


Amazon doesn't have the cover up yet, but should soon, and then it will be really shiny. It will start showing up on other retail sites too, and then the ebook will follow.

After I saw all this, it was really difficult to concentrate on the scene I was working on in Crow's Rest's sequel, No Man's Land, but at the same time it's really motivating. If people are getting excited about CR, I'd better get that second book finished so there's no delay in the publishing schedule!

Happy Wednesday, everybody!