The Debutante Ball, established in 2007, is a group blog for authors making their debut in the literary world. We are now in our twelfth season of celebrating up-and-coming authors. Former Debs include bestsellers in the genres of women’s fiction, mystery, literary fiction, nonfiction, young adult, and more. Click on any of the photos above to learn about The Debutante Ball Class of 2019 and their books. Read about the bestselling…
So Long
My book has been out in the world for over a month. I’ve been writing on this blog for nearly a year. It’s seemed interminable and lightning-fast all at once. And now, here we are at the end. Or is it the beginning? That’s the main thing I’ve learned during my debut year: we put so much importance on our first books, counting down until launch day and obsessing over…
Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: Mahalo and Aloha
Aloha! I can’t believe it’s been a year since I first joined the Debutante Ball. Mahalo to the previous class for giving me the opportunity to work alongside K.A. Doore, Martine Fournier Watson, Layne Fargo and Stephanie Jimenez, as part of the Class of 2019. I had no idea what kind of ride to expect as a debut author, and it was truly wonderful to be part of the DB-Hive….
Scream Until We’re Hoarse
Sunset from Gate’s Pass, Tucson.How has it already been a year? How has it only been a year? I feel like I’ve been on this ride for the better part of three years. As I step off and let the new, refreshed crew on, my legs are still shaking a bit but I’m all excited to go again – and soon. Unlike before, when I was waiting in trepidation, like in…
[News Flash] August 18, 2019
Thank you so much to yesterday’s guest, Stephanie Burgis! If you haven’t already, enter the #DebBallGiveaway to win a copy of Snowspelled. You can enter by sharing our post on Facebook and/or retweeting the following tweet (make sure you follow @DebutanteBall on Twitter too!): We are delighted to host @stephanieburgis on @DebutanteBall this week! RT and follow for a chance to win a copy of SNOWSPELLED #giveaway https://t.co/LLODXlNW38 @KA_Doore @LayneFargo…
Interview with Stephanie Burgis and giveaway of SNOWSPELLED!
I’m so excited to welcome the multi-talented and amazing Stephanie Burgis to the Ball this week! Stephanie grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, but now lives in Wales with her husband and two sons, surrounded by mountains, castles and coffee shops. She writes fun MG fantasy adventures and has published five so far, including The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart (Bloomsbury 2017), The Girl with the Dragon Heart (Bloomsbury 2018) and the Kat, Incorrigible…
A Party for THE DREAM PEDDLER
I considered not having a launch party for my book. I’m not a big fan of being the center of attention (which is funny, because when I was ten years old this was my favorite thing ever), and I didn’t want to hand sell books to close friends. I was excited for them to buy it—I just didn’t want to be the one selling it. But publishing a book…
Why I’m Choosing to Celebrate They Could Have Named Her Anything
Publishing They Could Have Named Her Anything has already been more satisfying than I could have ever expected. I worked with a phenomenal illustrator to design the cover, deepened my work and artistic vision with my fantastic editor at Little A, got invited to panels with my literary heroes, and have read GoodReads reviews of my book that are lovelier than I could have ever imagined. And this month, I’ve already…
Celebrate Yourself
In the months leading up to my book launch, I told my friends that since I had the world’s smallest wedding ceremony (held in my apartment, 7 guests in attendance), the day of Temper‘s release was going to be My Special Day. I was only sort of kidding. You only release your first novel once, and so many writer friends had told me that launch day itself could feel anticlimactic, even…
Attacus Atlas & Other Inventions: book baby birthday bash
aloha! We are supposed to talk about our launch parties and swag this week. It is a miracle that I had a book come out in February 2019. The story that led to The Atlas Of Reds and Blues was first begun in 2004. And I lost most of my work in 2010 during the police raid on my former home in Georgia. So, I had to start over. It…
Share Your Joy
This week we’re talking about launch parties and swag: what we did, what worked, what didn’t. Fun fact: I didn’t really do either. Not so much because I didn’t want to, but because my book came out in March and I had started a new, fulltime job in January. On top of that, the toddler decided early 2019 was a great time to start fighting sleep and I was working…
