Hi everyone! Hope you’ve been having a fantastic week. We wrapped up the ARK blog tour on Tuesday and had a cover reveal for Love Life to Death, a cult suspense novel we’re very excited for. It’s been a good week, and what is a good week without some good web browsing? Here’s what we’ve been reading about. The 12th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards The 12th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards were announced this week. The awards celebrate independent publishing and recognize authors and publishers that “go the extra mile to produce books of excellence in every aspect.” While there are many amazing winners and finalists to check out, we’re pretty psyched because The Great & the Smal

A.T. Balsara's young adult novel, The Great & the Small, has been named a finalist in the 12th annual National Indie Excellence Awards! The National Indie Excellence Awards celebrate independent publishing by recognizing authors and publishers who "go the extra mile to produce books of excellence in every aspect." We are very excited to share this news and to invite you all to congratulate A.T. Balsara on being recognized for her exceptional story. To learn more about the awards, read the press release and see the full list of finalists.

Welcome back the the CDP blog! Last week we shared part one of a Q&A with Jesse Miller, author of ARK and Unwrap Your Candy. Today we're back with the second half of the interview. Read on to find out more about ARK, hope, and inspiration. What are you hoping readers to take away from ARK? I don’t know—that’s a hell of a question. And there’s that big word in there, hope. I’d love for someone to read Kurt Vonnegut’s preface to Anne Sexton’s Transformations and to come across and puzzle on the diagram for the story of Cinderella. And I’d love for that person to think about how the diagram of this book might start out fairly high on the vertical axis and then cascade down the emotional chart o

Alright, folks! Who’s ready for some more cool stuff from Around the Web? There were a lot of things that caught my attention in between completing work tasks this week, so I’ll warn you in advance that if you’re trying to get something done these are excellent procrastination tools. Journal Prompts If you’re anything like me, you’ve journaled on and off for a while. When you first start, it’s exciting and fun, but sometimes it becomes a chore when you’re not sure what to say. BookRiot has got your covered with “31 Bookish Journal Prompts to Inspire You For A Month.” Some are short and easy, like “Hardcover or paperback?” Others might require a little more thought, like “Which author of colo

In honour of ARK's release, we sat down with author Jesse Miller to discuss inspiration, publication, and more. What is the story behind the story to your book? What I mean is, what led you to the story. Is there a situation, current event (whether normal or odd), person, or thought that inspired you? If you felt an urge to write it, why did you? Some of what led me to the story is from my earlier life right out of grad school, trying to pay bills and figure out how a creative life fits with a professional life—the enduring struggle. I had a number of jobs, both over and under the table. One of those unders was working as factotum in Saratoga Springs, and having access to a number of these

Tomorrow is the big day: ARK release day! We've got lots of fun stuff planned to celebrate the publication of Jesse Miller's latest novel including a blog tour. ARK related content will appear across the internet on these websites. So follow along and we'll see you there! May 15 Lisa’s World of Books Fang-tastic Books (Guest Blog) Ramblings of a Book Nerd May 16 The Book Junkie Reads (Interview) Paranormalists 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, and Sissy, Too! May 17 T's Stuff Roxanne’s Realm May 18 The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom (Guest Blog) Jazzy Book Reviews May 21 Simply Kelina JB's Bookworms with Brandy Mulder (Interview) May 22 Books Direct (Guest Blog) Teaser Addicts Book Bl

Hello friends, are you ready for some more content from around the web? Bookstores to Travel to If you’re on the road this summer and in need of a good book, where should you go? Lonely Planet recently got 11 authors to recommend US bookstores worth the trip. And let me tell you, some of them look amazing! Story Social One of the best things about the internet is the communities that spring up through social media. I’m sure many of you participate in various online literary communities, but if you’ve got room for one more and like discussing fiction writing, here’s a place for you. #StorySocial is a weekly hour-long Twitter chat with writers from all over the world hosted by Well Storied. Th

We're very excited to announce that The Great & the Small by A.T. Balsara has been included in The Canadian Children's Book Centre's Spring Issue of Best Books for Kids & Teens! The Canadian Children’s Book Centre (CCBC) is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to "encouraging, promoting and supporting the reading, writing, illustrating and publishing of Canadian books for young readers." Image via CCBC We're honoured to have The Great & the Small included among other great Canadian books. Subscribe to Best Books for Kids & Teens for more wonderful book recommendations.

There are no rules when it comes to writing. Therefore, writers should never be shy about pushing the limits of their stories and characters. Granted, that doesn’t mean everything you write will be well received, let alone commercially viable, but don’t let that stop you from exploring the depths of your creativity. So now that we’re clear that the literal universe is truly infinite, it still needs to be understood that every genre has its own unique set of difficulties—challenges for writers that have absolutely nothing to do with reigning in your imagination. For example, science fiction writers need to figure out how to make the unbelievable believable, all the while passing the “sniff te

Welcome back readers! It’s been pretty busy around here with the release of The Boatman, its blog tour, and preparations for the launch of ARK. If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you probably know all about that. The fun thing about having a job where you need to be on social media regularly is that you find all kinds of cool stuff being shared. Here’s some of the best things we found on the web this week. Durian vs Melbourne Library Let’s start with a funny story, shall we? Late last week, hundreds of people were evacuated from a library in Melbourne. The reason: rotting fruit. Yup, some five hundred people were evacuated and firefighters were called to the scene because fruit had bee

Ever wonder what goes on in the mind of a children's horror writer? We interviewed author Kat Hawthorne to get a glimpse of the thought processes behind The Boatman. What do you think is relevant or relatable in your book? Well, I think the human condition is relevant. Being lonesome is relevant. Feeling sad is relevant. Finding new and interesting ways to cope with those feelings is relevant. In The Boatman, Izzy was so scared and so sad and felt so alone all she could see was the bad side of things, real or not. She didn't always see what was actually there, her mind filled in the blanks with incarnations of her feelings. A talking spider, a living ventriloquist's dummy, a ghost girl who k