Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Target!!!!

I'm thrilled to announce that starting this week The Transformation of Things is a Target Emerging authors pick!!!!

A few years back, when I had a newborn in the house, I would often find myself sleep-deprived in the middle of the Target diaper aisle (often with a crying baby in tow). Luckily, the diaper aisle in my Target is located just across from the books, and there were many, many times when I'd swing by the Emerging Authors shelf and pick up a new book just to save my sanity. I was never disappointed!

Which is why I'm so honored that The Transformation of Things is sitting on that shelf right now. If you happen to find it there as you stuff your cart with diapers and onesies and diaper genie refills, I hope you enjoy!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Books Make Great Holiday Gifts!!

It's true, books do make great holiday gifts! Even better gifts are books signed and personalized for a specific friend or family member on your list!

So if you buy yourself a copy of The Transformation of Things between now and December 1st, I will send you another free signed and personalized copy for you to give as a gift to a family member or friend of your choice. All you need to do is:

1.) Purchase the book. (Find it easily on Amazon or in person in Barnes & Noble, Borders, or nearly any bookstore!)
2.) E-mail me at jill(at)jilliancantor.com with the specific information about where and when you purchased the book.
3.) Let me know how you want your free holiday gift book signed and where you want it sent.

Could I make your holiday shopping any easier?!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Release Day Contest!

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS is out in a few more hours! And to celebrate, I'm holding a contest here. The first 10 people who leave me a comment on this post, letting me know that they have purchased THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS will receive another one of Avon A's fabulous titles FOR FREE courtesy of Avon! I'll also throw in a signed The Transformation of Things bookmark!

That's right, if you are one of the first ten people to let me know that you bought The Transformation of Things, Avon will send you another book for free! And I'll send you a pretty signed bookmark :-)

Please include your name, e-mail address (so we can contact you to send your free book), and where you purchased the book in your comment. Or if you'd rather, you can just leave a comment saying you purchased and e-mail the rest of the info. to me at jill(at)jilliancantor.com.

One More Day!

To celebrate the release of THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS tomorrow, Melissa Senate and I are holding a contest today over at my Facebook author page! Click here to head over there, or if you're already Facebook friends with me, you can find it there as well. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment. One grand prize winner will win a signed copy of THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS and a signed copy of the fabulous Melissa Senate's new release THE LOVE GODDESS' COOKING SCHOOL. Two other winners will each win one of the two books. The contest ends at midnight tonight, just in time for me to start my amazing release day contest tomorrow right here on this blog. (Check back tomorrow for details!).

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Contest!

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS will be out one week from today!! In honor of my launch and the launch of Melissa Senate's new book, THE LOVE GODDESS' COOKING SCHOOL, Melissa and I will be holding two joint contests -- one today for her release day, and one next week for mine.

It's easy to enter, all you need to do today is leave a comment for Melissa on her Facebook page. One grand prize winner (announced tomorrow) will win copies of both books, and two runners up will each receive a copy of one of our books. I'll post the details for my launch day contest next week!

And more contests and some fun guest blog posts coming up later this week. Stay tuned. . .!

Monday, September 6, 2010

News & Upcoming Events

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS is out in less than two months, and I have some good news to update you on! First, I got my first review from Booklist and it was a nice one, saying, "Cantor puts a unique spin on this tale of a woman in transition."

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS is also going to be a featured alternate during the holidays in The Doubleday Book Club and will be available in the online club at BOMC2. I'm so, so, so excited for this book to come out and thrilled that you guys will be able to find it here!

And, if you're in the Tucson area, I'll be doing a reading, signing and talk with Janni Lee Simner and Adam Rex on September 24th at Antigone Bookstore. The press release is below. Hope to see you there!

Please join us for an upcoming event at Antigone Books
Friday September 24 at 7 PM:

Join us for a fabulous event for teens, aspiring writers, teachers and librarians with three local authors: Jillian Cantor, Adam Rex and Janni Lee Simner.

Janni Lee Simner will read from Thief Eyes (Random House, $16.99). In this intense new fantasy, 16-year-old Haley accompanies her geologist father to Iceland, where she's determined to discover exactly what happened the previous year when her mother disappeared. Adam Rex will read from Fat Vampire (Harper, $16.99). In this delightfully macabre spoof on the current vampire craze, Doug Lee is a 15 year-old overweight vampire and will be for eternity. Jillian Cantor will read from The Life of Glass (Harper, $16.99). High-school freshman Melissa's beloved father has recently died of cancer, leaving her struggling to find her way and learning how to come to terms with her grief without giving up her memories of him.

The reading will be followed by a question and answer period.
Refreshments will be served.



Antigone Books
411 N. 4th Avenue
Tucson, AZ 85705
(520) 792-3715


Friday, August 6, 2010

Remember Me?

Why yes, it has been an embarrassingly long time since I've posted anything to this blog. And yes, I am still here. And yes, I do have an excuse for my absence. Sort of. I've been writing. A lot. Hard at work on two different books that hopefully, I'll be able to tell you more about in the near future. And when I'm writing fiction, it's hard for me to think about writing (or reading) anything else. If you think this blog had been horribly neglected, you should see my to-be-read pile, aka those enormous leaning towers of books in the space that used to occupy my night table.

But anyway, I've finally come up for some air, and I've realized that it is less than three months until THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS comes out! And in the spirit of transformation, I've decided to start a new blog, in which I transform myself, do a sort of negativity detox if you will. I hope you'll follow along because I'm hoping it'll be a fun and maybe even funny journey for me over the next few months. As my mom said when I sent her the link -- "How will you *ever* be able to find that many things to be positive about?" If nothing else, I love to prove my mom wrong!

If you become a follower of my new blog (click here) -- I'll enter you to win a signed ARC of THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS. I'll pick a winner next Friday!

In the meantime, I'll still be blogging about writing/author related news over. Yes, I promise. I really will!

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Coming Soon. . .



The cover for my adult debut, THE TRANSFORMATION OF THINGS -- out 11/2/10 from Avon/HarperCollins!

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Changing Hands Signing

Yesterday, I did a signing at the fabulous Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, AZ, where I got to meet some really great Phoenix area readers, including the very cool blogger, I Heart Monster. I didn't realize it at the time, but she recorded my reading, and she did an awesome job. So if you weren't able to be there, you can watch her video. I talk a little bit about THE LIFE OF GLASS and read three short sections from the book.

Jillian Cantor Book Signing Event from I Heart Monster on Vimeo.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Blog Tour Giveaway Winners

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my blog tour contest! I enjoyed all of your e-mails, and it was so nice to hear that so many people are looking forward to reading the book!!

I used random.org to help me select the winners, and if you are one of the winners you should have received an e-mail from me. Please respond so I can get you your prizes.

The Grand Prize Winner of signed copies of THE LIFE OF GLASS & THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS & Two Glass Spirit Stones is: Kate of The Neverending Shelf

The two runners up, both winners of a signed copy of THE LIFE OF GLASS are: Carol M. and Leann

Congrats to all the winners!!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

The Good and The Bad

THE LIFE OF GLASS will be out in just over two weeks, which means two things for me right now: One, my blog tour & awesome blog tour contest start to-morrow!!, and two, I’m in the midst of prime review time for the book. This means nearly every time I open up my e-mail I’ve been seeing another Google alert with yet another review on there.

I’ve blogged before about reviews, about how waiting for that first one is one of the most nerve-wracking things I’ve gone through as a writer. And I’m not sure it’ll ever get any easier for me. This is my second book, so I’ve been through this once before (doesn’t matter, still not any easier.)

I’ve been really fortunate to have received a good number of glowing reviews for THE LIFE OF GLASS so far, including, some gorgeous pre-publication blurbs from Beth Kephart and Cecilia Galante, very, very nice reviews from both Kirkus and Booklist, a review from BookPage that was so beautiful it made me cry, and, just today, amazing reviews from both The Compulsive Reader and The Shelf Elf.

And yet, I have also seen one or two that are not so glowing. I understand that not everyone is going to like my book, and honestly, I’m okay with that. There are plenty of books I love that other people don’t and vice versa. But it is still hard to read and brush it off and forget about it, because even if I get 50 glowing reviews and one bad one, it’s the bad one that sticks in my head far longer. Why is that?

I’m not sure. Maybe it’s because a book, words, something I created is, in a way, a part of me. Every compliment feels personal, and every negative comment, even more so. Or maybe it’s some sort of deep seeded insecurity – I hang onto these negative comments, this little voice in the back of my head wondering, wondering, could it be . . . right?

One thing every author knows is that we can’t (or we shouldn’t) respond to negative reviews, and I don’t. Ever. Which is sometimes hard when I see things written about my books that are just plain factually inaccurate or completely misread. Which is hard because sometimes a book feels like a child, who you might want to defend (even if you should really just let them battle it out on the playground themselves.). It’s hard because, also, deep down, don’t we really all crave positive feedback? Don’t we all want people to like us, to like anything that’s a part of us?

My point is, I guess, that having a book come out, being in the midst of all these reviews is like being on a merry-go-round with constant ups and downs and highs and lows. There are moments when I read a review so lovely that it brings tears to my eyes, and moments where I read things that just make me feel pretty awful.

Someone recently suggested to me that I just stop looking, that I turn off the Google alerts and just look away. I have other things to do. Other books to write and revise. But I can’t stop looking. Good or bad, I feel like I need to know.

The funny thing is, I did not sit down and intend to write this post. I intended to write about my blog tour (the details of which, I will, I’m certain, bombard you with over the next three weeks!) But just before I opened up my blog, I logged onto Goodreads, and there I saw some new reviews and ratings of both THE SEPTEMBERS SISTERS and THE LIFE OF GLASS. And there I felt compelled to check them out. And there I saw that someone who I knew in high school – not someone who was a friend or an enemy but just an acquaintance -- gave one of my books a low rating. She is, of course, entitled to her opinion. But as she left only a rating and not a review, I began to wonder, why she didn’t like the book? Or, was it me she didn’t like – had she hated me back in high school and I hadn’t known? Did I ever really talk to her in high school? I couldn’t remember.

Coming up in the next three weeks, you’ll be able to read a bunch of interviews and guest posts and reviews of THE LIFE OF GLASS, and you can learn a lot about me and how I came to write this particular book and what’s up next for me as a writer and how I feel about beauty. But today I give you this, a glimpse into what’s going on in my head, as my book is about to journey into the world.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Upcoming Events

THE LIFE OF GLASS will be out in three short weeks, and, if you've noticed my absence from this blog it's because I've been literally swamped working on promotional materials, interview questions, and oh yeah, revising two other books that I've got in the works! But I've got a lot of exciting things coming up that I wanted to take a moment to share.

On January 25th (next Monday) I kick off my three-week blog tour, starting with an interview over at Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf. You can find the complete tour schedule on the left sidebar or on my website here. In addition to having some great interviews and guest posts during the three weeks, I'll also be running a cool blog-tour contest where you'll have the chance to win signed copies of my books and fun prizes!

If you're in Arizona, I'll be doing a bunch of in-person events starting in February (Click here for the complete schedule.) And here's the invitation to my B&N signing on 2/20. If you're in Tucson I hope to see you there!