Category: Publishing

Honorbound is now in paperback!

I know it’s been a million years since this book came out, but at a reader’s request, I have made a paperback version.


I know some people still read in paperback or hardcover, or just like to have them on the shelves, but paperback covers cost more than just ebook covers, and, like, 99% of sales come from ebooks. At the time, I didn’t have the funds for a full cover, and I didn’t have the skills to make one, so… it got pushed to the back burner. And then maybe off the stove completely. But 5 years later, I’ve upped my design skills quite a bit (and my health) and was able to get this finished. Cover art is still by Fiona Jayde, who did an amazing job–I just added the spine and the back cover. And the interior, but I do that part for all my self-pubbed books.

Will there be a paperback version of The Rivalry of Renegade X, you might be asking? Well… yes? Hopefully? I have to recruit help for that one, but I’m working on it.

Bigfoot and Nessie is an Eisner WINNER!!!

If I couldn’t believe we were nominated for this, I REALLY couldn’t believe it when we won! I was excited just to get to go to the ceremony and sit at a VIP table. The awards ceremony took place at Comic Con in San Diego and there were, like, actual celebrities there presenting the awards! It was the coolest thing I’ve ever gotten to be a part of, even before we won. Even the meatloaf was good (it tasted like spaghetti!), and if you’ve read Renegade X, you can guess how I feel about meatloaf. :P

I was so prepared to not win that I took a sneaky picture of Mariko Tamaki’s trophy, since she was the first to win at our table, and I thought I might not get any closer to one than that. Except I also thought that the woman on my right (Erica Henderson) had real winner vibes and would probably get a trophy I could take an even closer picture of, lol. But our category came up fairly early on and we were actually the second win at our table. (By the end of the night, everyone at our table had won! We were grouped by publisher, so theoretically that was just a coincidence and it wasn’t purposely a winners’ table.)

Anyway, when they called out the winner and it was our book, I GASPED SO HARD and did a double take out of my seat. We got to go up on stage, where Gigi Edgley (Chiana from Farscape!) handed me my trophy.

The other presenter, Ming Chen, gave Laura her trophy. People keep asking me if we both got one or if we have to share, and if you were wondering that, too, let me ease your mind by saying everybody who won got their own trophy! Also, the trophies are very solid and heavy, like something that would turn out to be the murder weapon in a TV show. The globes actually spin, too, and the plaque has the name of our book and the category we won (Best Publication for Early Readers).

When I got to the microphone, I said what Pam says on The Office when she wins her Dundie, which is, “I feel God in this Chili’s tonight.” XD We didn’t have anything prepared, so I said a few funny things and then thanked Laura, plus our editor, Rachel Sonis, and our designer, Jay Emmanuel. I’m glad I didn’t have anything written ahead of time, because I feel like I do better improvising these things (otherwise known as winging it), and if I had sat down to write something, there are so many stories I could have told or things I would have wanted to express that I wouldn’t have even known where to start and would have stressed myself out. But ultimately, I think what I said in this post about getting nominated pretty much sums it up.

I don’t think anybody’s posted my part of it, but you can watch Laura’s speech:

I swear neither of us is that orange in real life.

 

Bigfoot and Nessie is an Eisner Nominee!!!

LOOK AT THAT BACKGROUND. I’ve never been nominated for anything in my life, and now my name is on a website with a classy light that follows you around as you scroll.

I found out about this last week and it still feels unreal! When I first got into publishing, I thought my books would stand out and get noticed. (LOL.) I thought all I had to do was get published and people would realize how much they loved my stories and characters and that of course there should be more of them. If you’re a fan, you might be thinking, “But that happened, right? Because I DO want more of your stories!” Well… yes and no. Readers have enjoyed my stories and connected with my characters (and OMG, thank you to everyone who has!), but the industry is tough. (Which industry? Doesn’t matter – they’re all tough.) And it still pains me to admit that I have not had the success I thought I would and, and – and this part is especially painful – might never have. Ugh. OUCH. It buuuuurns.

Ahem. Anyway. After fifteen spotty years of publishing, I thought my fate was decided long ago and that things like this were forever out of reach. Bigfoot and Nessie: The Art of Getting Noticed is about finding the courage to be creative in the face of the fear that you might fail. That no matter what you do, you might never get noticed. Or if you do, maybe outside validation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. These are the things I struggle with! I have felt like a failure, and I have felt frozen with fear that no matter what words I put down on the page, they’re going to be the wrong ones. Because if they weren’t the wrong ones… wouldn’t things be going better by now? Wouldn’t I have had the success I always thought I’d have?

Neither of those things are true, of course – it’s just my brain’s way of trying to make sense of something I don’t actually have control over. All I can really do is keep making things that bring me joy and hope they resonate with others. As a reader, I always feel like the author can feel my love for a book somehow, even if I never say anything, but as a writer, I feel like I’m putting things out into a void. Like messages in bottles sent off into the sea. Did anyone find them? Did they get where they needed to go? Did the right message get to the right person? Should I keep putting MORE messages in bottles, just to be sure?!

And all of that is a long-winded way to say that the creative life is tough and there are so many ways it can tear you down and make you feel not good enough. But sometimes it does the opposite and hands you something cool. Sometimes the bottles come back with new messages that prove you weren’t sending them off into a void after all.

This book was a collaboration between me, Laura Knetzger, Rachel Sonis, and Jay Emmanuel, and the rest of the team at Penguin Workshop. Having collaborators means not only having people to share the creative process with, but also having people to be excited with when something like this happens! I’m honored to have worked with this group and so proud of the book we made!

COVER REVEAL – Bigfoot and Nessie: The Art of Getting Noticed

So excited to finally share with you guys the cover (and overall cute, colorful art style) of Bigfoot and Nessie: The Art of Getting Noticed !!!  It officially comes out February 7th, 2023, but you can preorder your copy today:

Introducing a hilarious and heartfelt graphic novel in which an unlikely pair of cryptids–one a Bigfoot whose failure to get himself photographed disappoints his family, and the other a Loch Ness Monster, who seems unable to escape the spotlight wherever she goes–meet up and find friendship, creativity, and just the right amount of attention.

Meet Bigfoot and Nessie! Yes, that Bigfoot and Nessie. Only…Well, things are a little complicated right now.

Bigfoot is having trouble fitting in with his family. He can never quite manage to get himself into the picture, much to the disappointment of his mom, dad, and sister, who always want to be in the spotlight. When he meets Nessie, who’s equally desperate to get away from the cameras, he begins to ask himself the ultimate question: What’s the price of fame after all?

Big-hearted and clever, The Art of Getting Noticed by Chelsea M. Campbell and Laura Knetzger invites us to explore our most tender selves through friendship and creativity—and have quite a bit of fun in between!

Deal Announcement – Bigfoot and Nessie!

I’m so excited to finally be able to share this news! I wrote a graphic novel for kids called Bigfoot and Nessie, about, you guessed it, Bigfoot and Nessie. It’s about their friendship, but at its heart, it’s also a story about finding creativity without putting pressure on yourself–something I struggle with a lot.

The idea came about after binge watching a lot of We Bare Bears, and I was thinking about Charlie (he’s a bigfoot, if you’re not familiar with the show) and how he doesn’t want to be photographed, and I started thinking what if a bigfoot did want to get photographed? But was also failing at it? I added in Nessie, who’s got the exact opposite problem–she’s too famous and is trying to avoid getting noticed–and it came together from there.

Laura Knetzger, who writes and draws the Bug Boys series, is doing the artwork, and I’ve seen it, and it’s amazing! Check out her artwork in the Bug Boys cover below. And also go read it, because it’s a really fun slice-of-life series about two friends having adventures.

New Read – Adventurer’s Academy

Adventurer’s Academy

It’s no surprise when Serena, straight-A magic student, gets into her dream school, the Adventurer’s Academy. But getting placed in Remedial Sorcery? Total shock. Apparently it’s not enough to be good at magic–you have to be good at teamwork, too. But it’s not her fault people are so hard to get along with. Especially her annoying lab partner, a cute warrior who thinks all sorcerers are cowards. Now Serena’s determined to prove him wrong, no matter what the cost.

I’m trying out Kindle Vella! I have no idea what I think of the platform yet, though it is very satisfying to get thumb’s ups on episodes. This story is complete, and you can read the first three episodes for free!

 

New Release: Demon in My Dorm Room!

If you’ve been following along in the newsletter, you’ll have heard me talking about this for the past few months, but if you’re just tuning in now… I wrote a new book! It’s the start of a new series about a witch who gets more than she bargained for when she summons a demon to be her date for the dance, and I am super in love with it!

It’s easy to get caught up in feeling like there are certain ways books are “supposed” to go, or at least it is for me. And I don’t mean “supposed to” as in actually be satisfying stories, but more like… having physical action and bad guys and stuff I don’t really care about writing. Because what I like to write is slice-of-life stuff with some magic elements thrown in. (Which should surprise literally no one who’s ever read anything I’ve written, lol.) So that’s what I did with this book. Well, with these books, because I’m a good chunk of the way through book 2 already.

And it turns out that not forcing in stuff you’re not really excited about makes a huge difference. And maybe reading this book won’t feel any different to you guys, because if you’re here for my characters and my sense of humor, then that’s what you’ll be getting, but to me, writing only the parts I liked and leaving out the parts I didn’t was game changing. That’s not to say I don’t love my other books, but I feel like the parts I love writing–character interactions and interpersonal drama, plus a bunch of embarrassing moments–sometimes get eclipsed by the parts I don’t love writing–action, bad guys, etc.–because I felt like that was how they were “supposed” to go. But it turns out they don’t have to go that way at all, and I’m a lot happier only doing the stuff I like instead of the stuff I don’t. Who knew?

Anyway, Demon in My Dorm Room is available now on Kindle and in Kindle Unlimited. Scroll down to see the gorgeous cover and to read the blurb:

I just wanted a date for the dance and now I have to live with a demon??!

I’m Isabel Green, and I didn’t mean to summon a demon. Well, okay, I did, but only because I was desperate for a date to the Brixton Academy Annual Fall Ball. (It’s a long story.) But I didn’t expect to get stuck with him. Worse, the summoning spell won’t let us get very far apart from each other, so now he’s living in my dorm, where I’m definitely not supposed to have boys over. Especially ones who are secretly demons. And not so secretly jerks. Okay, that part’s not actually prohibited by school rules, but it probably should be. I mean, why couldn’t I get stuck with a nice demon instead of one who constantly gets on my nerves?!

Now he’s going to all my classes with me, he’s seen all my deep dark secrets (well, a shrine to my ex, but whatever), and if I can’t find a way to unsummon him, like, pronto, he’s going to completely ruin my life. Oh, and on top of all that, my magic’s getting even wonkier than it already was. Except when I’m casting forbidden black magic, and then it works a little too well. So, that’s a thing. And if I can’t figure out why this is happening to me, or why my parents are keeping secrets about our ancestry—thanks for that, guys—well, let’s just say that having a snarky demon on my hands is going to be the least of my worries.

Read now on Kindle or in KU.

The Rivalry of Renegade X is finally upon us!

BOOK 5 IS OUT!!!! (Can you believe this is seriously book 5? It only took, er, 12 and a half years to get here…) This book was a lot of fun to write, and I’m glad I get to do ridiculous things like tell stories about annoying, interdimensional do-gooding twins, lol.

To celebrate, the whole series is on sale right now, including Rivalry. And the novellas are free. The sale will last until February 3rd, but the novellas will only be free for a few days, so grab them while you can.

A tale of two Damiens.

After ruining the annual Tines family barbecue by retaliating against one of his stuck-up superhero cousins—who totally deserved it, no matter what anyone says—Damien just wants an easy summer. One that involves him and his friends hanging out and going on the occasional superhero mission. He doesn’t need his “good twin” from another dimension where he was raised by Gordon showing up and making a mess of everything, and he sure as hell doesn’t need him living at his house, doing chores without being asked, and generally being the perfect superhero son his family’s always wanted.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, his good twin refuses to lie low. He’s obsessed with doing good deeds and even volunteers to be his dad’s sidekick on his lame kids show. Damien soon has his hands full just trying to stop this guy from making him look like one of the stereotypical douchey heroes he’s always hated. And when his good twin starts to win over all his friends, it’s the last straw. Damien knows there’s only room for one of him in Golden City, and he’s more than ready to get rid of this guy.

But when Damien’s attempts to send him back home backfire and an “evil” version of his half brother Xavier shows up—as if Xavier could get any worse—the two Damiens will have to find a way to work together despite their differences. That is, if they want to thwart Xavier’s evil plans and stop him from erasing everyone they care about from existence.

Coming Next Week… The Rivalry of Renegade X!

Release Date: January 20th, 2020

A tale of two Damiens.

After ruining the annual Tines family barbecue by retaliating against one of his stuck-up superhero cousins—who totally deserved it, no matter what anyone says—Damien just wants an easy summer. One that involves him and his friends hanging out and going on the occasional superhero mission. He doesn’t need his “good twin” from another dimension where he was raised by Gordon showing up and making a mess of everything, and he sure as hell doesn’t need him living at his house, doing chores without being asked, and generally being the perfect superhero son his family’s always wanted.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, his good twin refuses to lie low. He’s obsessed with doing good deeds and even volunteers to be his dad’s sidekick on his lame kids show. Damien soon has his hands full just trying to stop this guy from making him look like one of the stereotypical douchey heroes he’s always hated. And when his good twin starts to win over all his friends, it’s the last straw. Damien knows there’s only room for one of him in Golden City, and he’s more than ready to get rid of this guy.

But when Damien’s attempts to send him back home backfire and an “evil” version of his half brother Xavier shows up—as if Xavier could get any worse—the two Damiens will have to find a way to work together despite their differences. That is, if they want to thwart Xavier’s evil plans and stop him from erasing everyone they care about from existence.

On Sale Now – The Persistence of Renegade X!

The latest installment in the Renegade X series, The Persistence of Renegade X, is here! Grab all three novellas for only .99 cents each for a limited time!

This novella takes place between books 4 and 5.

Watching Damien’s two favorite siblings for the night—and stealing his sister Amelia’s title of “best babysitter”—should be easy. It shouldn’t involve his mom calling and begging him to watch his awful half brother. And it shouldn’t involve having to go rescue his two best friends from a superhero mission gone wrong. And it definitely shouldn’t involve getting stranded in downtown Golden City with all the kids he’s supposed to be watching. Especially not when the night’s almost over, and it’s a race against the clock if he wants to get everyone home before his parents and, more importantly, Amelia find out anything ever went wrong.

Available now in ebook and paperback!