Author Interview: Hannah Moskowitz & Giveaway

Hannah Moskowitz

Books:

Break
Invincible Summer

Website | Blog | Twitter | Buy the book

Noah’s happier than I’ve seen him in months. So I’d be an awful brother to get in the way of that. It’s not like I have some relationship with Melinda. It was just a kiss. Am I going to ruin Noah’s happiness because of a kiss?
Across four sun-kissed, drama-drenched summers at his family’s beach house, Chase is falling in love, falling in lust, and trying to keep his life from falling apart. But some girls are addictive...

Not your typical beach read.

Describe Invincible Summer in three words.

Raw, pretty, ugly.

Do you hope to write any other genre besides contemporary fiction?

I have a few that are largely contemporary but with fantasy touches, like my middle grade novel ZOMBIE TAG coming later this year. I’m working right now on a real fantasy, with its own world and everything. We’ll see how that goes. I’m really in love with it.

What sort of obstacles do you face writing from a male pov? Will we ever see a main female protag from you in the future?

I so hope so! I have a few things in the works with female MCs. The only issue with writing a male MC is that some people expect me to “prove” that my MC is male, so they want him to be traditionally masculine in a way that Chase just isn’t. It’s frustrating, because if I were writing a female MC, she could act however is appropriate for the character and do a lot of unexpected things, a LOT, before someone would tell me that they didn’t believe her as a girl. But because I have a girl’s name on my cover, there are people who think I need to write a certain kind of boy. To overcompensate, I suppose. But as a whole, it’s amazing, and people are incredibly fair and encouraging.

Was it easier or harder writing and publishing your second novel?

Noooo, not at all. Writing the first draft of Invincible Summer was slightly harder, but all in all Break was much harder, just because I didn’t know what I was doing, publishing-wise. (I should mention, though, that Break was the 7th novel I finished, and Invincible Summer the 10th, so I wasn’t new to the writing thing by then!)

What books are in your summer reading pile?

A zillion I’ve collected throughout the year and haven’t gotten to read yet. I’m reluctant to name names because I know I’ll be slaughtered for not reading them yet. But a lot of releases from this year. I have a rough time keeping up with YA during the year because I have to do so much other reading for school, so I really use breaks for catching up.

Win a copy of Invincible Summer!!

Official Contest information:

to enter, please fill out the form below
entrants must be 13 years of age or older
contest deadline is April 31, 2011
contest open to US only*
ONE ENTRY PER PERSON!
check out my Contest Policy/Privacy Policy

The Illegal Photo Contest invites readers 13-18 to submit photo(s) until November 11, 2011 that represent their reaction to the book ILLEGAL by Bettina Restrepo (HarperCollins) to win a chance at monthly prizes and the Grand Prize of a Nook e-reader.

"A readers’ pictures should show how the novel, Illegal was a ‘window’ into the character, Nora’s life or a ‘mirror’ of your own. The picture can represent something new to the reader (a window) or something the reader recognizes (a mirror) like family, friendship, struggle, or community."

You can find out more information about the contest, here! The photo contest is only for USA, Mexico and Canada.

And for being a reader of The Story you can win a signed copy of Illegal and a piece of jewelry inspired by the main character!!

You can gain extra entries into this contest by spreading the word about the Illegal Photo Contest!! Extra points can be earned by:

posting about the contest on your blog
sharing the contest on Facebook
Tweeting about the contest on twitter, with the hashtag #illegalbook

Official Contest information:

to enter, please fill out the form below
entrants must be 13 years of age or older
contest deadline is April 21, 2011
contest open to Everyone*
ONE ENTRY PER PERSON!
check out my Contest Policy/Privacy Policy

And just because she is so awesome, Holly had this to say about book bloggers:

I know bloggers have been taking some heat lately…Hearing some grumblings as to whether or not they do any real good for an author’s overall sales. I have to say that I’m one author who believes in bloggers 100%.

Let’s face it—bookstores are closing. My own hometown recently witnessed the closing of my favorite used bookstore, as well as the closing of the Borders Express in the mall—and our larger Borders store is also in the process of shutting its doors. My hometown is no stranger to losing brick-and-mortar stores. As a result, book blogs are absolutely replacing signings and stops at bookstores!

YOU—bloggers in the YA book blogging community—are the absolute best promotional tool I’ve come across. You’re incredible!

YA book blogs have been so instrumental in spreading the word of my work that I have been encouraging all my fellow authors to make even better use of the blogosphere. I’ve already written two articles for the SCBWI Bulletin on the YA blogosphere.

I’ve also been reaching out to bloggers as I promote PLAYING HURT…far more than I did when my debut, A BLUE SO DARK, was released (it was with the release of A BLUE SO DARK that I began to realize the good bloggers were doing to get my book in the hands of the right readership).

I adore the YA blogosphere, and only want to see it grow and thrive. The idea of where the YA blogosphere might be in five or ten years excites me to no end. You guys prove every day that reading is absolutely not dead—and you are the most influential force right now connecting new writers to their audiences.

On behalf of all the new authors such as myself that you have helped to find and grow a fan base, I say again, sincerely and with a heart filled with great affection, thank you.

Any blogger who would like to reach me for a guest post or interview can do so at writehollyschindler (at) yahoo.com.

Win a copy of Playing Hurt!

Official Contest information: