Friday, May 6, 2011

Max Quick: The Pocket and the Pendant Blog Tour + Guest Post with Mark Jeffrey


Max Quick: The Pocket and the Pendant
by Mark Jeffrey

Released May 1st by HarperCollins

Goodreads Blurb:
When time mysteriously stops one day, nearly everyone in the world is trapped in suspension. But not Max Quick. Now Max must travel across America to see if he can discover how to set things right.

Along the way, he joins forces with a girl named Casey and a boy named Ian. In their hunt for answers, Max and his companions encounter ancient mysteries, magical books, and clues to the riddle of stopped time and the suspicious villains who seem to have caused it in the first place.

Yet the more Max learns about the time stop, the more it seems that his own true identity is not what he once believed...

******

"driven -- and driven well -- by good old-fashioned sci-fi storytelling." - Kirkus Reviews

ForeWord Magazine 'Book of the Year' Finalist 2005
We are extra lucky because Mark was sweet enough to write a blog post just for us about his journey to publication:

Getting published is sort of a weird thing.

For example, you would think that the cover artist and I know each other or that at least we met.  Answer: Nope.  In fact I didn't even know his name until I saw the final version of the cover and his name was written on the inside jacket flap. 

Oh I understand why that is.  Or at least I can guess: the publisher doesn't want the author harassing the artist.  Publishers are professionals when it comes to selling books.  They know how to make covers that work.  An author may be a great writer but that doesn't mean they know how to make great cover.  Imagine if they had a really terrible idea  -- and imagine if they knew the artist's phone number.  Right.  That poor artists phone would ring off the hook.  And the publisher would be upset -- especially if he author succeeded at bullying the artist into doing something really terrible.

Apparently even Mary DeGrandpre, famous for all those wonderful chapter-heading doodles in every Harry Potter book, has never met J.K Rowling

Here's another funny thing: when my editor told me she was sending me an edited copy of my manuscript, I was surprised to find there was no attachment to the email.  When I pointed this out to her, she said, "Oh no.  Its been FedEx'd to you.  It should be there tomorrow."  My jaw hit the floor: this was a hand-corrected hardcopy?  I had expected a Word file with Track Changes turned on.  It had simply never occurred to me that it was even possible that I might be getting a stack of paper. 

Even lawyers, who are among the least tech-friendly people I know, use Word with track changes turned on. 

So I sat there with my hand-corrected paper copy and painstakingly typed in the changes (or not -- sometimes I objected for some reason or other). 

I tell you all this because I had a very different picture in my head of what the process of actually getting published was like.  The reality was much stranger and I guess more pedestrian that I would have thought.

Still.  I'm not complaining :) Getting published may be sort of a weird thing, but there is nothing like seeing your book for sale in the bookstore for the first time.  I'm told by other more famouser authors that this actually never gets old. :)

And now, for your viewing pleasure:

 
 




Don't miss this fun middle grade
fantasy adventure!
 

11 comments:

Diane said...

Love his comments on the real world of hidden quirks to publishing. Good luck Mark! :O)

Tyrean Martinson said...

Sounds like a great book, and I love his comments. When I was 13, my best friend's mom had a book published, and I learned some of those strange quirks from her experiences. She didn't get any other books published, and I learned some things from seeing that happen too, so I know that publishing doesn't always go the way that we dream about . . . or maybe we need to make those dreams happen like Mark Jeffrey obviously has done by podcasting, self-publishing and then being willing to accept editorial help even after his success.
His journey as an author is a great story in itself.

By the Way, I'm hosting a one day only Blessings Blogfest on May 31st, if you would like to join in.

Old Kitty said...

Yay for print copies with hand corrections on them! Long may wonderful authors receive them!
:-)

Congratulations to Mark Jeffrey and yay for Max Quick!

Take care
x

bfav said...

The book looks my cup of tea. I love learning the insider stuff of publishing. All those hard edits--zoo wee mama.

Laura S. said...

This book sounds great! MG sci-fi is always fun. Thanks for the heads-up about the weirdness of publication too, lol!

Heather said...

I loved hearing Mark's take on his journey to publication. Best of luck to him with this fun book!

Deana said...

I can't get enough of hearing peoples 'getting published' stories. Thanks for it!

Tamika: said...

You always feature the best books to consider for my kiddos! Thanks Shannon:)

Have a Happy Mother's Day!

Karen Lange said...

Thanks Mark and Shannon! Have a great weekend! :)

Markj said...

Hey everyone .. glad you enjoyed the guest post - any questions, happy to answer them here! And yes this was all stuff I would have loved to heard about before I was published. All stuff I would not have expected.

Jemi Fraser said...

Sounds like a perfect fit for my classroom. Thanks so much for sharing :)

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