Author: Rachel

Welcome to the web home of Rachel Heston Davis--young adult lit writer, newspaper stringer, and associate editor at Written World Communications. Please, make yourself at home. :) You can find loads of information here. For a peek into the secret life of an obsessive writer, read my blog. To see those writing projects on which I'm obsessing, visit the Writing page. If you're a fellow storyteller or story reader, I recommend Resources and Links to point you in the right direction. And as always, check my news feed for updates on projects and publishing!

Female graphic novelists

ByRachel July 23, 2009 6 Comments
I'm having a heck of a time finding published female graphic novelists! I've been asked by two different sites to submit reviews of graphic works by women. Both sites are female-centric groups who recognize the sad truth: there aren't enough women in the comics industry! Think about it. How many of your Sunday paper comics are written by women? How many by men? Go into any Borders, go the...

Cold-Calling Bookstores

ByRachel July 16, 2009 0 Comments
My stint of highly experimental book promotion tactics continued today as I began the first round of cold-calling bookstores to ask about hot-selling titles in YA fantasy. I called exactly nine stores and got a host of responses from the inventory staff/managers, ranging from a twenty-minute conversation to a curt declaration that "Vampires are big, and that's all I can tell you." Yes, vampires...

Book Marketing for the Adventurous Soul: Tip #1 Planting the Seeds of Book Signings

ByRachel July 14, 2009 3 Comments
As I launch into this adventure of (hopefully) publishing, the subjects of book marketing and author promotion are ever in my mind. It's a fact that authors must self-promote books, and that's hard in a world over-saturated with media promotions and advertisements. The savvy author gets creative, and that's what I intend to do with these highly experimental and as-yet-untested ideas. Will they...

New Post Series

ByRachel July 13, 2009 1 Comment
I only missed one day of NaBloPoMo, and I almost missed tonight, but not quite! After Sunday's guest blog with SM Blooding I was out of blog juices for awhile. Starting tomorrow, I'll begin a series of posts on innovative marketing ideas for the new author. The thought of marketing and self-promotion daunted me at first, but after reading a few resources on the subject I feel confident in my...

A short despair, if you'll indulge me

ByRachel July 10, 2009 1 Comment
If you've time, perhaps you'd like to hear about my moment of despair. Right now I'm unemployed and have no guarantee that anyone in the publishing world is ever going to print what I've just spent the last 13 months of my life working on every weekday. I may not have anything to show for this endeavor, except to be even further behind those of my peers who are already showing promising careers....