#WeNeedDiverseBooks and How You Can Help

I think I'm preaching to the choir here, but at the eleventh hour and with so much support streaming, I think it's worth it to put this here and let you do as you will with it!

(I'm taking a page from Ilene Gregorio's book and copying off Aisha Saeed here - thanks, Aisha!)

I’m honored to be part of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks Campaign. It begins tomorrow, May 1st and ends May 3rd but the conversations have already begun with an overwhelming outpouring of support from publishers, agents, and authors like Veronica Roth, Laurie Halse Andersen, LeVar Burton, John Green, and so many many more, but most importantly, an outpouring of support from the public who desperately wants more diverse books. It’s a reminder we need diverse books and that there is an audience for books like these.

Does diversity matter to you? Do you want to read about people that represent a myriad of viewpoints and perspectives and backgrounds? Then Please Join Us!

For a basic understanding of how this came to be and the important dates, please read here.

To follow along on tumblr where we’re answering questions as they come up please check here.

To RSVP on FB for a reminder and to spread the word to your friends please do so here.
To join the conversation on twitter that started early and shows no sign of stopping check out the hashtag: #WeNeedDiverseBooks and follow the campaign at our twitter handle here.

Send in your pictures. Share your thoughts. Spread the word. Join the movement. We need diverse voices represented in our beautiful diverse nation and this campaign gives hope for exactly more of that.

There is not much more I can add to this, except that I am so proud to be part of this initiative. I am proud of the attention it's gotten, to the point that we started getting a buzz behind it two days ahead of schedule. 

In lieu of the fact that this campaign has been taking up all of my time and energy, the Diversify! initiative and my new review schedule will be moved to next week. 

Diverse books are needed. And now, there are hundreds of voices chiming in to express this need. Be part of it. Let's make it happen!

Viva la Kidlit Revolution!

It is heartening to see all the discussions about diversity recently, be it the BookCon shenanigans (spoiler if you haven't been following along: they are NOT good shenanigans and we at YA Interrobang have already announced our refusal to cover it while attending BEA) or talk about new steps forward and new initiatives to keep this drive going.

Already, the lovely Ellen Oh has gotten the ball going with the #WeNeedDiverseBooks movement, which will launch this week. Check out the post on it, and the Tumblr, for more information on getting involved!

But on to the main point of this post: my friend Steph and I have been dropping little tantalizing hints for you guys about a major project that we were scheming up. We wanted all this talk about diversity to be channeled into action that could very well shake up the industry's deeply-set prejudices and internalized racism.

With that in mind, today we are introducing Kidlit Revolution!

As you can see, Steph has done an amazing job of summing up what we've set out to do in her intro post, but I'll do a quick recap for the sake of my readers here.

Kidlit Revolution aims to be a driving force for actual change within the publishing industry, by focusing attention and support on diverse books that may not be getting the buzz they need from publishers. However, this won't be done through a few reviews or separate posts.

The whole goal of Kidlit Revolution is - well, revolution.

We want to pose a unified front.

This is us right now. Except we aren't exactly Pixar characters. And we aren't cooking.

Steph's outlined the steps we're planning on, so I'll just drop those here:

1. "Every week, we're going to feature an innovative, diverse kidlit or YA book that isn't receiving the most effective marketing support. We'll tell you about the selection, the author, and other pertinent information."
2. "Every day for that week, we will initiate a specific call to action intended to help that book succeed. For example: buy the book, write a review, read the book, share the book, ask your library to stock the book, pre-order the book, contact the publisher to say you want to see more like that book, etc"
3. "We will also spearhead more ambitious projects intended to affect the industry, such as requests to split the YA Best Seller List into hardcover and paperback books so it becomes less skewed."

There is a lot more to it than that, but the gist is, "We want change, so we're going to band together to promote that change." Steph and I are aware that the two of us cannot carry this through alone. We are going to need you, our community, to make this project a reality and a success.

So what can you do to help?

Glad you asked, lovely people. Please, if you want to support us, let us know. Pledge to spread the word, to keep an eye out for what we might need and fill the gaps for us if you can. Help us get in touch with the people we need to know about to make bigger connections and form a community that can make differences at large.

The project will launch this summer, so keep an eye out for more updates! I'm so excited to go into this with Steph, who is one of my favorites on here and has been for some time, and also to hear your responses and thoughts!

Viva la revolution!

Diversify! - A New Blog Series

As a person from several diverse backgrounds – religion-wise and family-wise in particular, it is hard to ignore the problem facing diversity authors in the publishing industry.

Their books don’t sell well.

Some of them aren’t even picked up at all.

If diverse books happen to raise their head above the waves, they usually are ones that don’t offer proper representation – seeded with tokenism and stereotypes that don’t offer the cultures or races involved what they need or deserve.

As my friend Kelly Jensen points out, diversity is not an “us vs. them issue’. We all need representation, because this is the reality of our life. Everyone needs for their voice to be heard.

I remarked the other day in a conversation that often it seems like those asking for diversity or even odds in the industry – including me – are like Oliver Twist, timidly wringing our hands and whispering, “Well, this is good, but please, can we have more?”

Women authors deserve more. Diversity authors deserve more.

So what is this new series about?

The other day, I mentioned via social media that I might want to make two separate series for the blog. I’ve been feeling recently like I want to do more to support authors besides book reviews (and also, as much as I love book reviews, they can get a little boring if that is the bread and butter of my posts).

One of these series will focus on midlist authors, several of whom I am fond and consider friends, and who deserve more of a buzz around them than they actually get.

And another – the one that I’m discussing today and will kick off Monday the 28th – will focus on diversity: those who write it, who campaign it in the industry, and who are willing to discuss it and the issues.

How will it work?

I don’t know who else used to be a huge fan of Yu-Gi-Oh, or any other trading card games that kids pass around and trade back and forth. What I want to do is focus on the heroes in action of diversity – and we’re going to be doing it in RPG/trading card format.

I’ll be taking a figure or author in the industry who stands for YA, with their “stats” and “strengths” – why does diversity matter to them, how have they taken a stance, what books they’ve written – and so on. I’d also like to see if I could get them to contribute a few quick facts in a mini-interview format, so you can see exactly why they are so cool.

Between these features, I’d also like to do some specifically diversity-geared reviews, with a discussion of why this book is needed – or, possibly, why it might be problematic.

How can you help?

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who expressed interest in this. I would love if you could just get in touch with me through the form below and let me know if you’d like to help out or offer your voice for this series. 

Let me know how you feel about this initiative. Is there something you think I should add? Something else you also think I should keep in mind? I would definitely like to add an occasional podcast feature in there to discuss the issues, so if that is something you’d like to see, here or on DiversifYA (which I recently joined as a contributor!), please sound off and let me know!

In addition, nothing would help this more than passing it forward. Do you know an author who might want to get in touch? Pass it on!

I am so excited to be doing this, and I am gratified for the positive responses I’ve received thus far. All of us can be part of this movement for change. We all deserve to be seen in the books we love and champion. Diversity authors need to be nurtured and encouraged that they are needed.

Let us make 2014 the year when we start moving forward.

Be sure to check back on April 28^th for the inaugural post, and later on this week for a briefing on a summer project related to diversity that S.E. Sinkhorn and I will be spearheading! 

Happy New Year, Happy New Blog!

Welcome, once again, to a new and improved Watercolor Moods! I am ridiculously proud of my new blog banner, which was commissioned from none other than the brilliant Simini Blocker. By now, most should have been following her on Tumblr – at the least, for the sake of her lovely Eleanor and Park fanart – and if you aren’t, this is a good time to start.

This girl has a gift and I could not be more pleased with how she took a photo and some vague descriptions from my head, and transformed it in a perfect representation of my reading aesthetic.

why i wasn't blogging.

First of all, I think I owe an apology of sorts and an explanation for anyone who was actually following this blog. Last year was very hard for me – as it seems it was for everyone. I mean, what were you up to, 2013?

I was burned out on a draft that just wouldn’t fit together the way it ought to.

And because of my fears over my writing, that endless nagging Imposter Syndrome – am I meant to write? Is this a cosmic sign that I’m pushing the wrong way? – I started to become afraid to read, to pick up a book and be struck through with words that were beautiful and perfect and pierced into a reader the right way, or seeped warm and comforting into their bones like a good cup of tea.

(Yes. Everything does come back to tea for me. And words. Always words.)

In any case, though, 2013 became the year-long reading slump that I could not shake until the final hours of the year. But now, I am pleased to say that I am back, and I also would like to thank everyone who didn’t unfollow me and offered me encouragement while I tried to scrape myself back together.

what i plan to do now.

Watercolor Moods is back, but I am going to be making certain changes to its content and approach.

I’ve always called myself a YA blogger, but as of this year, I will be opening up to middle-grade and possibly a few titles advanced beyond YA (particularly as I broke my reading slump by cutting my teeth on the Discworld series). I will be using a tag system so you can easily find reviews within the category that you are looking for, so please click over to that page for more information.

In addition, I will also be discussing my writing and other crafty, possibly artistic ventures. I am a YA writer, and in many ways, that is starting to come first and foremost over my being a book blogger. I might not venture into my current works-in-progress just yet, but I would like to discuss thoughts about the craft, interesting articles that I think are worth the read, and possibly even reflections from my internship.

I am also going to be introducing a new paid service outside of my work as a book blogger. Please keep an eye out for that as well.

Thank you so much for your continued friendship and support. I  look forward to a new step into blogging, and new adventures in the world of reading!

Back in Business! (For the Most Part)

...Yes. Finally.

As you can probably see for yourself, the blog has a new layout. Pretty nifty, huh? I haven't really completed all the re-organizing I was going to do, but for right now you can welcome me well and truly back into the book blogging spectrum.

So, coming up soon is the giveaway winner announcement for The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book I: The Mysterious Howling. I'm sure everyone's forgotten about it, so cross your fingers and squeeze your eyes tight and we'll see what happens.

Also, I have quite a few reviews to catch up on (I've still kept reading, even through drama about school and a neglected blog and many, many cups of tea), so you can look forward to those as well.

Now here's hoping I can figure out how to use this new Blogger.