Can you handle the truth???

Ok, we just had to do an emergency blog to let you guys know about this uber cool contest Joanna Stampfel-Volpe is doing tomorrow between 12 and 1 EST.

Jo will respond to any queries received that hour with 100% honesty. You may see something as simple as "Not bad, but just not for me." or "I don't represent academic non-fiction." OR you may see something like "I stopped reading when you mentioned that the mailman was a vampire space zombie who has come to deliver a message of PAIN. Because come on...seriously?"

Um...is she awesome or what?

Check out all the details at The Neverending Page Turner.

How cool is this? I hope some of you are brave enough to give it a go!

The LiLa Write-Off

Laura had a brilliant idea to do a little exercise where we both had a one-line prompt about our favorite girl detective and then we each write a paragraph about the sentence. Only one Neither of us managed to stick to these rules. Shocker.

Anyways, we thought it would be fun to show you how different our writing styles actually are (this will be even funnier when you read the samples) and even better we'd let you guys decide which sample belongs to which Roecker.

So what do you say? You ready to play?

The prompt: Kate Lowry loses her pearls.

Sample #1:

I groped the velvet seats of the auditorium, using them as a guide, not daring to put my heels to the floor. I knew their click would give away my location. It felt as though my eyes were squeezed shut, but really it was the darkness—thick and suffocating. But that wasn’t the reason I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t breathe because he’d hear. As I moved down the row, I hunched my shoulders attempting to take up as little space as possible, to disappear.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he yelled. His words came from in front of me, forcing me to silently switch directions.

And that’s how it happened.

My long strand of pearls caught on an armrest or a chair number or a nail or a something and snapped. Pearls dropped to the tile like bombs, tearing through the silence giving me away one by one by one.

Sample #2:

I eyed my 10-speed warily. Obviously, I couldn’t ignore Seth’s cry for help, but I really just wished I had another way to get from point A to point B. Even worse, a brand new, shiny pink helmet hung off one of the handlebars with a sticky note stuck onto it. “Remember the deal. No helmet, no bike! We love you!” It was in my mom’s handwriting. Of course.

I grabbed the helmet and stuffed it on my head. Seth better appreciate the lengths I was willing to go to save his ass. I mean, it’s one thing to be a 15-year-old forced to publicly ride her bike. It’s quite another to have to do so in an adult sized Barbie helmet.

I sped out of my driveway, enjoying the feel of the wind on my face in spite of myself. Riding a bike might be dorky as hell, but it’s also sort of fun. My pearls bounced against my chest as I picked up speed, I swung a left under Farrow’s Arches and skidded to a halt in the garden. I leaned my bike against the frost bitten brick and my breath formed tiny little clouds around my face as I scanned the garden for Seth. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something felt…off.

I felt the warm breath on my neck and started to turn around, relieved that I’d found him.

“Seth?” His name died on my lips as a hand grabbed my pearls and started pulling. Hot panic flooded my body and my hands flew to my neck, clawing at the smooth white beads that dug into my skin. But my fingers kept slipping away, the vice-like grip of the pearls was too tight. My lungs burned and my nails scratched at the delicate skin of my neck even though I knew it was no use.

And then I heard the tiniest pop, and saw the tiny pearls scatter all over the bricks like snow. I fell to the ground and gulped the air greedily, my breath rasping in the quiet of the garden. My head snapped around, looking for my attacker, but the garden was empty.

There was nothing left for me to do except get on my hands and knees and pick up the pearls. One by one.

***

Hmm...one of us is certainly long winded, no? Leave us your best guess in the comments and stop back on Monday to see who wrote what and to read all about the inevitable fight that erupted afterwards.

Have a fab weekend everyone!

Daisy Dishes on the 1,000 True Fans Theory

Our favorite marketing guru, Daisy Whitney, is back with an in-depth look at the 1,000 True Fans Theory.

There’s a theory in marketing that if an artist has 1000 “true fans” she can make a living at her craft.

Lisa, Laura and I wanted to explore this theory in my guest post with an eye toward what it might mean for a teen lit author.

The 1000 True Fans theory was developed by Kevin Kelly, the co-founder of “Wired” magazine and author of the book “What Technology Wants” due out from Viking/Penguin this fall.

He posited that given the massive amount of competing content artists are creating in the Internet age it may appear as if there are only two options – pen a blockbuster or toil away in the backwaters of the Long Tail. But never fear! There is another choice. And an artist can escape obscurity by cultivating 1000 True Fans, he says.

“A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.”

Yes, he’s talking about musicians in the above quote, but the theory applies to authors too. And 1000 actually sounds doable, right?

But how do you get there?

“You have to maintain direct contact with your 1,000 True Fans,” Kelly says. “Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate...You also benefit from the direct feedback and love.”

What that means is you need to LOVE them back. I’ve talked about this notion in other columns here, such as when we’ve discussed social media, blogging and commenting on other blogs. It’s about customer service, it’s about relationships, it’s about real connections!

But does the 1000 True Fans theory work?

Well, let’s look at the theory from the position of a fan.

I am one of Elizabeth Scott’s 1000 True Fans. I read all her books, I post recommendations of her books on my blog, on GoodReads and on Amazon. I rave about her book to other writers, to teens and to anyone else looking for a good read. I’ve bought her books for friends. I also have exchanged emails and Facebook messages with her. I am confident that I have accounted for directly at least 20 sales, if not more, of her books.

If she has at least 1000 fans like me – and she has way more – then she’s generating at least 20,000 sales of each book from those true fans. Her next novel, The Unwritten Rule, releases March 16 (a date I bookmarked on my calendar so I can buy it at the local bookstore). It’s listed at $16.99. If it sells 20,000 copies that equals $339,800 in sales.

Elizabeth will receive some portion of that in royalties. Now, I’m not going to speculate how much exactly each author needs to quit her day job and just live on her writing. However, I do think making a living from writing alone seems doable if you cultivate 1000 True Fans.

I’m a believer in it only because I have been on the other side. I am a Fan Girl for my favorite authors. I’m playing a big role in keeping them in jammies and slippers in front of their computer all day long, rather than pounding away at a day job.

By day, Daisy Whitney is a producer, on-air correspondent, podcaster and raconteur in the new media business. At night, she writes novels for teens and is the author of The Mockingbirds, to be published by Little, Brown in Fall 2010. When Daisy's not inventing fictional high school worlds, she produces conferences for iMedia and provides strategy consulting to businesses on online video. She is the host of her own online newscast The New Media Minute that covers the business of Internet video and of the top-ranked iTunes audio podcast “This Week in Media."

And remember, Daisy is going to be back next month and she's dying to answer your questions, so ask away in the comments!

Get Fired Up With LiLa in NYC

LiLa is hitting the Big Apple! That's right, we've booked our discount airfare and reserved a room at the swanky Hampton Inn (we travel in style, people) because we're officially attending The Sourcebooks Fire Launch Party.

Get. Excited.

So, here's the deets:

Time: March 18, 2010 from 6pm to 8pm

Location: Books of Wonder

Street: 18 West 18th Street, NY

City/Town: New York, NY 10011

Sourcebooks Fire invites YOU to attend the launch party for our new Young Adult imprint. In attendence will be Fire authors and friends. All books will be available for purchase, including some that won't be out for a few months. Come and have them all autographed!

The event will also feature music by Tiger Beat--the first ever YA author Rock Group featuring Libba Bray, Daniel Ehrenhaft, Barney Miller, and Natalie Standiford.

(Editorial note: Squee!!! Libba Bray? Natalie Standiford? And...the best editor/amazing YA writer on the planet, Dan Ehrenhaft? IN A BAND? Laura and I are going to be a couple of inarticulate fan girls. Is it awkward to ask your editor to sign something that's not a contract? Wait...don't answer that.)

So, we're officially extending the invitation to all of our amazing blog friends. Want to see us make fools of ourselves in front of legendary authors, editors, agents and other publishing professionals? Or perhaps you'd just like to know once and for all which Roecker sister is the fun one? (Spoiler alert: It's totally Lisa. Duh.) Please, please RSVP here and send us an e-mail or a message on the Ning to let us know if you're coming. We'd love to meet some of you guys in person!

Tell the Truth Tuesday...

Please note these are Lisa and Laura's truths in no particular order. We're keeping them quasi anonymous this week so you can't call child services.

• I judge the girls on 16 and Pregnant while watching 16 and Pregnant and reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear at the same time.
  
• Yesterday I told my daughter to lie about her age so she could spend an hour in our grocery store daycare. I seriously thought about bringing my laptop with me so I could spend an hour writing after I did my grocery shopping. Only problem is that now she's convinced she's three and her birthday isn't until May. Yeah.
  
• For the past two weeks I've taken a nap every. single. day.
  
• I read magazines in the locker room at the gym until my 2 hours worth of child care is up.
  
• Sometimes I can barely write one sentence without screwing around on the Internet. This completely explains why it takes me 7 hours of computer time to write 1,000 words.
  
• Even though everyone told us not to feel obligated, we can't stop responding to comments. It's like a compulsion. In fact, at some point someone is probably going to find one (or more likely, both) of us collapsed on our laptops with our comments folder open. Death by comments.

Ok, people, what's your truth this Tuesday?

Mistake by the Lake?

When scrolling through Yahoo's top stories this past Friday, something caught my eye. The word, "Cleveland" next to the words, "Number One." I knew I moved home for a reason. Cleveland is number one.

And then I read the article.

Cleveland earned the number one spot on Forbes' most MISERABLE cities list. Yowser. Apparently our weather blows, over 71,000 people have hightailed it out of here over the past five years, and our unemployment rate and income tax levels are through the roof. Oh, and it's dangerous. Like, really dangerous.

Clearly the Forbes editors haven't ever lived in Cleveland and lucky for them we're here to report the top 10 8 6 reasons why Cleveland doesn't suck.

Listen up, bitches.

6. In 2005, The Economist ranked Cleveland as the best city for business meetings in the continental U.S. Cleveland encourages quick and efficient work. What's not to like about that? And no, this doesn't have to do with foreigners wanting to leave, Forbes.

5. Clevelanders are committed. Despite years of heartache, people still dress up in orange and brown (some are even known to snap on a leash, get inside of a cage and then crawl on all fours to a doggie bowl full of beer, er, not that we know them personally or anything) and cheer on the Browns. Each and every year, my husband is convinced we're going to the super bowl. I guess you could say his hope tank is full. And so are the tanks of thousands of Browns' fans. They just keep comin' back.

Which leads me to my next point...

4. We always cheer for the underdog. Clevelanders take pride in supporting independent stores, mom and pop shops and local boutiques. With stores like Baci, Sweet Threads (you can't call yourself a Clevelander unless you've purchased a prom dress at Sweet Threads where they make sure that no one at your school purchases your dress. Now that is customer service!), Stroller Mama, or our favorite independent book store The Learned Owl. What can we say? We like to keep it in the family.

3. Cleveland is the home of the first traffic light. When you're sitting in traffic, you can thank us. We were also the first city to get pedestrian controls for traffic lights. I guess you could call us traffic light connoisseurs.

2. Cleveland has great museums. We have the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Great Lakes Science Center, The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, The Cleveland Museum of Art, you name it, we've got it. The Roecker family has some fond memories in some of these museums. Mainly, Stacey at the tender age of three screaming, "GET! ME! OUT! OF! HERE!" when seeing the huge skeletons of dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. Good. Times.

1. And the number one reason Cleveland doesn't suck is...The people. Cleveland is made up of overwhelmingly nice people. People who are committed to making the city a better place, people who set up shop and lay down roots in Cleveland, people who do stay and some of us (*ahem*) even come back. And we're funny too. We know how to take a joke and we're not afraid to laugh at ourselves.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Forbes.

Still have doubts about Cleveland's fabulousity? Take a look at Liz Lemon's take on our fine city...

Happy (almost) Birthday Laura!

Well, Laura is turning the ripe old age of 29 this Sunday and even though the great Diet Coke battle rages on, I couldn't let the day pass without honoring my overly sensitive, poetically inclined, middle sister.

So, without further ado, here are the Top 5 Reasons Laura Roecker rocks:

1. Laura is always up for anything. Seriously. When we were little I used to dress her up as a boy and call her Patrick and she was totally fine with it. And whenever we played Mermaid and Seahorse, she was always the Seahorse in spite of the fact that I outweighed her by a good 15 pounds. So I guess it was only natural that when we had our epic phone conversation about doing something with our lives and I suggested rewriting PRIDE AND PREJUDICE for young adults (so original, I know), Laura was totally on board.

2. Laura is good at everything I suck at. She's really thoughtful and sensitive. She's good at writing descriptions and actual emotions. And she's got wicked poetry skills. I'm too blunt, impulsive and if I wrote a book by myself it would be all plot and one-liners. Oh, and don't even ask about my poetry skills. They're nonexistent. Basically, I'm only half a woman. Laura, you complete me.

3. Laura never gets annoyed with me. I have what some people might call a "strong personality." I'm bossy, crabby, and oftentimes downright bitchy. Shockingly, some people aren't really on board with being bossed around by yours truly. But Laura never complains, she never screens my phone calls and she even lets me get my way. Well, sometimes anyways.

4. Laura never judges me. I can literally tell Laura anything and she just gets it. My three-year-old still sleeps in a crib mostly because it doubles as a kind of sleep cage. When I confessed to Laura she told me she recently read a book that said a crib until three years of age actually supports good discipline. SCORE. Yesterday, I casually mentioned that I'd like to purchase a poster of Zach Efron for my bedroom. Laura agrees that if I didn't live with my husband and two children this kind of thing would be totally normal for a thirty-year-old woman. See? No judgement.

5. Laura is smart. I mean, obviously, she's smart because she's an amazing writer, but she also gives amazing advice. Let's face it, without her insight I'd have a picture of Zach Efron on my ceiling and I'd probably be in the middle of a mental breakdown. Laura just has this way of making things seem OK even when you're bawling your eyes out because you're convinced your children are sociopaths. It's very endearing.

And finally, because I've had many, many requests for some embarrassing Laura pictures I decided to put together a little slideshow for your viewing pleasure. Some of you might remember the humiliation that was my birthday post back in October.

Yeah, payback really is a bitch.

The Comment Whores

So, it's no secret that we love the blogosphere, bloggers, blogging and pretty much everything blog related. And our very favorite thing about our own blog is the AMAZING comments we get every single day. We always try to respond to comments in some way shape or form, whether it's a quick e-mail or a visit to your blog, we love getting to know you guys.

Unfortunately, lately we're running into issues with time. Mainly that we don't have enough of it. Stupid time. Anyways, we decided we'd put it to a vote. How do you guys prefer to be contacted after you've left a comment on a blog post?

How do you want to interact with LiLa?
	Receive response to comments via e-mail.
	Comment on your personal blog.
	Response to comment in the comment section at this blog.
	I don't really give a crap.
pollcode.com free polls

And we'd love to hear all about how you manage comments and keep up with blogs in the comments. Will you hate us if we stop responding to every single comment? And how do you find time to visit new blogs? We want to keep expanding our network of writer friends, but that bastard time keeps getting in the way.

Sister vs. Sister

OK, so you might have noticed that we've been a little crabby lately. (Sorry, Joe Jonas.) And the truth is we're fighting. That's right. We fight sometimes (fine, we fight a LOT of the time) and it's almost always about the writing.

Here's a little snippet of what's been going on in LiLa land:

Lisa: So, I think that twist with the Diet Coke [editorial note: I'm definitely not making this up. There really is a twist in our WIP that involves Diet Coke. And it's AWESOME.] really works.

Laura: I don't know. I'm still not sure why she would drink it. I mean, what's her motivation?

Lisa: *too pissed off to type*

Laura: We just need to make sure that everything makes sense.

Lisa: Yeah, well I still think the first four chapters SUCK. There's just something a little off. They're not working.

Laura: You're being too hard on them.

Lisa: Whatever.

Laura: Fine, I'll fix them, but what's wrong?

Lisa: I don't know. They're just not right. I'll do it.

Laura: No, I'll do it and I'll fix that stupid Diet Coke crap while I'm at it.

Lisa: Fine.

Laura: Fine.

Um, yeah, so apparently writing as a team is all fun and games until someone thinks up a plot twist involving diet soda.

Twenty Questions for Joe Jonas

1. Are those real glasses or the kind that come with the nose and eyebrows?

2. Why the bandana?

3. Are you really working up a sweat on that bike?

4. Is that a green spicket on the front or some sort of good luck charm?

5. Did you attach that little skull to the handlebars to scare birds or look cool?

6. Is that a purity ring I spy on your left finger?

7. Or are you the married Jo Bro?

8. If you're married why in God's name did your wife let you out looking like this?

9. Is that a swatch watch?

10. What size are those pants?

11. Did you intentionally match your shoes and bandana to the bike?

12. What do your dog tags say?

13. Did Robert Palmer loan you that blazer?

14. Do you even know who Robert Palmer is?

15. If you happened to fall and skin your knee would you bleed real blood or yellow robot fluid?

16. Are you aware that your stylist has a deep seeded hatred for you?

17. Do you think Walt Disney would spin in his cryogenic chamber if he saw you cavorting around like this in the name of Disney?

18. Do you ever get to hang out with Zach Effron?

19. Your hands look REALLY soft, 'fess up, you totally do weekly paraffin treatments don't you?

20. Do you regret doing this?

Now it's your turn, what questions do you have for good old Joe? Let us know in the comments. I'm sure he'll be checking in throughout the day.

Ask LiLa: Random Questions

This week we've got some interesting questions (and some rather pathetic answers) from the hilariously random Simon.

Um... You did ask, right? Okay. Just checking. 'Cause I'm just going to go stream of consciousness here...

1. Why don't we see teenage zombies in love in books if we've got werewolves and vampires and stuff having heart palpitations all over the place?

Zombies are distinctly unloveable. We think it has something to do with the fact that they're comprised of rotting flesh. BUT...perhaps this is a gap in the market? Idea whore file here we come...

2. Why do you guys live in Ohio? Seriously. I know what Ohio's like. I've been to Youngstown.

Dude, haven't you seen the tourism videos? Cleveland ROCKS. Um, and two words for you: free babysitting. All of our relatives live here. Doesn't get much better than that.

3. If I ask questions in stream-of-consciousness mode, what are the odds that one's going to pop out that you'll actually answer?

Surprisingly good.

4. Wouldn't your vlogs be funnier if you wrote soundtracks and choreographed dance numbers for them?

Why, yes, yes they would be. But they'd also be humiliating and potentially damaging to our reputation as serious authors who write serious books and take themselves very seriously. Yeah, we totally couldn't get through that last part without laughing.

5. Why haven't you watched Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog yet, if NPH is one of your favorite people ever?

Dammit. I love me some Neil Patrick Harris and I have no good answer for this question. I will watch it this week and post a review. Pinky swear promise.

6. Did you see NPH in the superbowl commercials last night? And if so, did you call that number? You know you did. What happened when you called it?

Um, you know we're allergic to football, right? Totally missed the commercials. I was watching Emma on PBS. Sadly, Mr. Knightly didn't hold up signs with toll free numbers, but if he did I totally would have called.

7. Am I going to run out of odd questions before my fingers get tired of typing?

*Waits patiently for Simon to answer his own question*

8. No.

Victory!

9. Should I keep going till I reach ten random questions?

Looks like we're sort of committed at this point. I mean we could stop at nine, but ten is such a nice, round number.

10. Why don't you say "douche" in your blog posts? You can totally get away with it, y'know.

Here's the thing, our book is going to be marketed to "savvy tweens." We're guessing these faceless young women are probably familiar with the term "douche-bag," but we figure we might be slightly less offensive to their parents if we continue to use the "d-bag" euphemism. This is just one of the many little white lies we like to tell ourselves.

11. If you could have lunch with any YA author, living or dead, what would you get to drink?

First off, we'd totally have lunch with Simone Elkeles. We have a girl crush on her right now. Have you seen her book trailer for PERFECT CHEMISTRY? She totally seems like our kind of girl, no? Also, I'm in the middle of LEAVING PARADISE right now and it rocks.

Anyways, I think it goes without saying what we'd be drinking at lunch with Simone. Prosecco! Duh.

Er.. there. You're welcome.

Cheers,

Simon

Thanks for playing Simon!

Do you have any questions you're just dying to have us answer? Send us an e-mail at lisa-laura(at)live.com. Come on, you know you want to...