Scorch Cover, 2009 Sales

Two quick things today that are interesting.

First, the cover for THE SCORCH TRIALS is NOT final, but it's popping up all over the Internet somehow, so I wanted to make sure I let you know about it before you heard it from another source. You can CLICK HERE to see it on Amazon, and I've seen it on a few blogs as well. There will be changes to make it even better, but that's basically it. What do you think?

The word "Companion" will be replaced with "Sequel" because it's most definitely a direct sequel. Also, the colors will be more vibrant and the sky amped up a bit. Once we have a final version, I'll put it up on the blog more officially.

Second, Publisher's Weekly did an article on sales numbers for 2009, and I'm ecstatic to see that THE MAZE RUNNER is included in the Top 100 (#97) for new hardcovers! Considering the competition and the fact it was only out for 3 months of the year, I'm thinking that's not too shabby! We've sold a lot through things like the Scholastic Book Fair, which don't show up on Bookscan, NY Times, etc., so this number really surprised me and made my day.

Here is the article if you'd like to see it: CLICK HERE. Fascinating stuff. I'm not quite in Stephenie Meyer's league yet. Haha.

I hope everyone is off to a great week so far...

UK Trailer, Latest Q&A

I thought I'd answer some of your questions from the comments today.

If that bores you, then go check out the UK trailer for Maze Runner, coming in August from Scholastic/Chicken House. CLICK HERE. It's basically the same as the U.S. one, but some of you may have not even seen that one.

Onto the questions...

Several people asked about the next book after Maze. It's called THE SCORCH TRIALS and comes out on October 12th. There's a countdown on the right side of the blog. Hey, we're almost down to 200 days!!!

Emma wondered where I got the ideas for Maze. Well, besides my crazy and slightly disturbing imagination, I always say the book was definitely inspired by two of my favorites growing up: ENDER'S GAME and LORD OF THE FLIES.

Thanks for all the yays from those in cities I'm visiting on tour, and the boos from those I'm not. Both make me feel good and appreciated! I really hope to meet a lot of you. Unless you're the lady from MISERY.

Rue from Dallas wants to know where you can find specifics about my upcoming tours. As soon as I have them, they'll be posted here, so stay tuned.

Dave asked about New York, and I did forget to say that I'm coming there for BEA at the end of May, but I don't think I have any events outside of that.

Mary at The Sweet Bookshelf wants me to come to the UK - I would love to!!!!! Who knows. I've never been to Europe, but I really want to go sometime soon. We'll see if one of the publishers there brings me out, or I guess I could arrange a couple of events if we go on vacation. We shall see! Do they like Americans?

Magenta wondered who came up with the UK cover. Well, I don't really know - the design team there, I guess. But I do love it!!!

Arning asked what my book is about. Well, the best thing would be for you to read the little teaser printed on the book flap, which is also available all over the Internet. Google is your friend!

Morgan wants to know how many books are planned in THE 13TH REALITY series. Five. So two years from now both of my series will be done and who knows what'll come next...

Graham Bradley asked when we'd be able to see the cover for SCORCH. Soon, my friend. Soon. It's really cool.

LuAnn Staheli's middle school class wondered why Sato is on the cover of Book 3 of 13th. We're kind of going with a theme, a different character on the cover with each book. Tick, then Mistress Jane, and now Sato. He might be my favorite character, by the way.

Jennifer Jenkins was nice enough to ask me about my knee. It's recovering nicely, except I must've done something to it because it's swollen and stiff today. I hope it's nothing serious!!!

Debbie the Nerf Goddess (nice name!) brought up a good point. The US and Greek covers both use the same awesome artwork by Philip Straub, but show different angles, the Greek one showing the sky above. Why? I don't know. Different tastes. I can't decide which one I like more.

Juliet Crane asked how far in the future MAZE is set. Excellent, excellent question! Well, it's never really revealed in the books, but in my mind it's over 200 years.

Alyssa hoped I could post the first couple of chapters of SCORCH for everyone. Well, not yet. But I think Random House will do that within the next couple of months.

Taffy asked about the last amazing movie I watched. I really loved THE GHOST WRITER, and not just because I have a mancrush on Ewan Mcgregor.

Ender wanted to know how I'm liking LOST so far. Love it as always. Though I'm actually behind on the show (I know - shame, shame), so I might talk about it more once I'm caught up.

There ya go. Thank you again for ALL the comments. I love reading them and staying in touch with you guys. My next post will be a full update on all the little things going on in my life. Talk soon...

Upcoming Chat on Twitter

I wanted to let you guys know about an online chat in which I'll be participating with a bunch of huge YA authors (figuratively speaking of course). The incredible Georgia McBride (author of the upcoming urban fantasy series PRAEFATIO in 2011) founded YALITCHAT, and the biggest one yet is coming up on April 14th and 15th.

Look at this lineup!!!

April 14th: Melissa Marr, A.S. King, Becca Fitzpatrick, Lisa McMann, Ellen Hopkins, Margaret Stohl, Carrie Ryan, Alyson Noel

April 15th: Holly Black, Michelle Zink, Scott Westerfeld, Kami Garcia, Cassandra Clare, Bree Despain, James Dashner, Sarah Rees Brennan

I'm honored to be included, and excited to make a fool of myself in such company!

Details:

Both evening chats take place from 9:00 to 11:00 pm EST.

It all takes place on twitter under the hashtag of #yalitchat.

The official website for yalitchat: http://yalitchat.wordpress.com/

Here's the link for it on Ning: http://yalitchat.ning.com/

To follow along you simply search for #yalitchat on twitter then keep up! We'll be answering your questions so be sure and pipe in.

If you're not following me on twitter yet, please do! CLICK HERE to do so.

May everyone have a most joyous and non-sucky weekend. Talk to ya next week.

Tour Dates and TDD Winner

And the winner of THE DARK DIVINE by Bree Despain is...

Jackson Porter!!!!

Congratulations, my friend. Throw me an email address and I'll contact you. You're gonna love the book!

I also wanted to announce the dates and cities for my upcoming tour for Book 3 of THE 13TH REALITY. I don't have any hard details yet, but at least you can hopefully set aside the day to come see me. Please don't make me beg.

Dallas TX: April 13, 14

Phoenix, AZ: April 19, 20

Denver, CO: April 26, 27

Salt Lake City, UT: May 1-4

St. Louis, MO: May 5-7

I'm also happy to announce that Random House has told me I'll be visiting the following cities this fall when THE SCORCH TRIALS is released in October (all tentative):

San Francisco, CA
Boston, MA
St. Louis, MO
Portland, OR
St. Paul, MN
Madison, WI
Salt Lake City, UT

I love it that I'll be going to a lot of new cities this time around. And I hope to meet many Dashner Duders along the way.....

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Oscars last night. I love Steve Martin and really wish he was my uncle. And a huge congrats to Kathryn Bigelow and everyone involved with THE HURT LOCKER. Amazing movie.

Countdown to THE PACIFIC on HBO: 6 days.

UK Cover for The Maze Runner

What do you think? I absolutely love it. Feels like a movie poster to me, which is pretty much the highest praise I can give something.

This book will be coming out in the UK in August from Scholastic/Chicken House. I had the good fortune to talk to a lot of the people responsible there on a phone conference, and they are wonderful!!! I wish/hope I can go there at some point and meet them and all my new readers. And I want to see castles. And Big Ben, Parliament... (what movie?)

Check out their website page for the book and what else they have to offer (CLICK HERE). They're incredible, and they'll also be publishing TMR in Germany. Chicken House rules!

I'm knee deep in my second round of revisions this week for THE SCORCH TRIALS. Krista always knows how to step it up and pull things out of me I didn't know I had! I'm also mourning the end of the Olympics. *sniff*

If you missed seeing the cover for Book 3 of THE 13TH REALITY or you want to enter the contest to win Bree Despain's THE DARK DIVINE, then CLICK HERE. I'll announce the winner later this week. (Coming soon: tour dates and Q&A from the comments.)

Back to revisions...

Book 3 Cover, Giveaway: THE DARK DIVINE

Well hey there.

Two things today:

1. I can finally show you the cover for Book 3 of THE 13TH REALITY (coming April 6). It's by Brandon Dorman, and I love, love, love it! For the record, that's Sato on the cover.

2. To celebrate, I'm giving away a signed copy of my good friend Bree Despain's book, THE DARK DIVINE. To be eligible, all you have to do is leave a comment and let me know what you think of the new cover. Or Bree's cover. Or the techniques of curling.

I'll announce the winner next week, at which time I'll also be announcing my tour cities and dates for the release of Book 3 in April. So, without further ado, here is the cover:

13th Book 2 Paperback: Come and Get it!

Just wanted to let everyone know that the second book of THE 13TH REALITY is now available in paperback.

I said this when we first revealed the new cover, but I'll say it again: I love, love, love it!!! Kudos to the artist, Owen Richardson. The inside illustrations are the same as the hardback, done by the equally talented Bryan Beus.

We continue to get a steady stream of newcomers to the Dashner Dude, so I'll just give a quick recap of this series. Book 1 (THE JOURNAL OF CURIOUS LETTERS) and Book 2 (THE HUNT FOR DARK INFINITY) are now available in paperback. Book 3 (THE BLADE OF SHATTERED HOPE) comes out on April 7th. We should be revealing that cover here on the blog very, very soon.

I have two publishers for this series. The hardbacks are done by Shadow Mountain, the people who brought you FABLEHAVEN. The paperbacks are from Aladdin, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and they've decided to have different covers, but keep the inside illustrations. It's scheduled to be five books in total.

The basic premise: a group of scientists called the Realitants study alternate realities. In the Thirteenth, they've discovered that science has been mutated into a dark magic. Very bad things happen.

How's that for short and sweet?

Many of you found me through THE MAZE RUNNER. If you liked that, I hope you'll give THE 13TH REALITY a try. I'm really proud of it, especially as it gets deeper and deeper into the story. Enjoy!

I'll answer your questions from the comments in my next post. I hope everyone is enjoying the Olympics. Pretty sure I've watched more coverage than anyone save Bob Costas. Curling rocks! So does biathlon! And all the usual stuff. The Alpine skiing is my #1 favorite though. And hockey. And short track speed skating.

Talk again soon...

Greek Cover for Maze Runner

In Greece, the book will be called THE TEST. What do you guys think?

Some quick background: The book is coming out in March (I think) from Platypus Publications, the same publisher that did Twilight and Hunger Games in Greece. They told me that The Maze Runner didn't sound very cool in Greek, hence the title change. Also, they decided to use more of the full cover art by Philip Straub. I really love it!!!

LTUE and Great Pub

I had so much fun at LTUE (the scifi and fantasy symposium at BYU). I don't know how else to describe it. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I served on some great panels, mingled with many writers and Duders, had a wonderful book signing, and read a couple of chapters from THE SCORCH TRIALS to a very enthusiastic audience.

Just a sampling of my favorite moments:

1. I was honored to record a couple of live podcasts of WRITING EXCUSES with Brandon Sanderson (MISTBORN, WHEEL OF TIME), Howard Tayler (SCHLOCK MERCENARY), and Dan Wells (I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER). These guys are hilarious, and all three of them are very good friends. So you can imagine the fun we had, especially fed by the crowd of people that was hundreds if not pushing a thousand. You can listen, for free, to the result by CLICKING HERE. You can also learn more about these three yahoos who made me the butt of all their jokes.

2. Speaking of being the butt of jokes, I was also "honored" to be the main buttster for Brandon's keynote address on Saturday, also in front of many people. Best line: Brandon squinted at his notes and said, "This is getting too dry, make fun of Dashner." He looked at me and said, "You stink." Then he said, "My notes actually say that, 'squint at notes and then tell Dashner he stinks.'" Hey, any publicity is good publicity!

3. Brandon's address was really, really, really good. The basic gist was that there is some great stuff in speculative fiction and people who say differently are stupid (though he said it much more intelligently and inspiringly). Boo yah! I don't think I ever realized just how funny Brandon was until this conference, where he was Guest of Honor and really let himself go.

4. Serving on a panel and talking with L.E. Modesitt Jr., one of the most successful scifi/fantasy authors ever. I've known him for several years now, and he's always been so real and down to Earth and inspiring.

5. What I mostly enjoyed was seeing and hanging out with the attendees at the conference. It gets better every year, and I really had a great time. Hello to everyone I met, saw again, ate with, talked with, discussed writing with, etc. Especially to the Duders who came!!!


I also wanted to share a couple of cool articles in which THE MAZE RUNNER was mentioned, especially since these are both huge publications:

1. The L.A. Times: CLICK HERE.

2. Publisher's Weekly: CLICK HERE.

Q&A from the Comments

Time to catch up on some of your questions! Before we get to that, just a reminder that I'll be at the LTUE event at BYU this weekend (11th-13th), including a signing on Friday at noon in the bookstore and a reading of THE SCORCH TRIALS on Saturday at 6:00. I'll also be speaking on several panels. For details, CLICK HERE.

As for the Superbowl, I didn't care who won since my Falcons weren't there. But I really, really wanted overtime so I was very upset when Mr. Manning threw that interception instead of tying up the game. Boo.

One more thing: We're very, very close to revealing the cover for THE BLADE OF SHATTERED HOPE, Book 3 of THE 13TH REALITY. Stay tuned!

Okay, onto your questions...

First off, as always, THANK YOU for all the nice words, congrats, etc. in the comments that continue to perk me up throughout the day. I read them all and love getting them!!!

Quite a few people asked when my next two books will be coming out. Book 3 of THE 13TH REALITY comes out April 6, and Book 2 of THE MAZE RUNNER comes out October 12th.

Charles: Is the latest generation more or less creative because of all the visual media that is so prevalent now? I would say more only because I feel that movies and television really influence my writing, just as much as books in terms of IDEAS. Though if you want to be a writer, reading books is first in priority because that's the best education on HOW to write.

Anonymous: Will there be a 13TH REALITY movie? Nothing in the works as of yet, I'm afraid. However, THE LIGHTNING THIEF comes out this Friday, so we can all be happy!

Erin G: How important is research to your writing? Well, I make most of my stuff up, so I only do a little. However, when I do reference something that needs to be authentic, I look it up. And I always try to have the proper background for the science I throw in.

Karen: Will you be coming to Honolulu anytime soon? Nothing on the schedule, but maybe I need to do something about that! I've never been there, would love to visit.

Emchien asked about more specific details on LTUE. Basically, you just need to know that everything is on the 3rd floor of the Wilkinson Center, and you can find everything from there pretty easily. EXCEPT for the signings, which I believe will be in the bookstore.

SPOILER ALERT! "It's what I want to be" asked who Minho and Zart were named after in TMR. Well, since this book is in the future, I purposefully had a couple of the names come from people who don't exist yet. Like Minho. But Zart is named after a famous composer. Begins with a Mo. END SPOILER ALERT!

Epsilon: How do you pace your writing during the day so as not to get burned out? When I'm in full first draft writing mode, I like to do an hour or two first thing in the morning, then do another session that afternoon, sometimes after seeing a movie to juice up my creativity factory. Other things to do in between are answering email, blogging, taking care of author business stuff, etc.

Aubrey (aka Stacey): How was your trip to California? We had a great time! We got really lucky because the big series of rain storms didn't hit until we were just about done. Although that did make our flight get cancelled and force us to stay an extra day and watch the rain. But we had perfect weather for Sea World and Lego Land. Kids loved it! Dad (that's me) ate lots of junk food!

Libby D: Any events in SoCal soon? I think there's a very good chance I'll be coming there for one of the tours for my releases this year. Stay tuned for the schedules!

Anna: How do we go about booking you for a school visit? Well, due to the time constraints of trying to have two series going on at once, I'm really only doing school visits during the release tours. The best way to make that happen is to go through your local bookstore, and have them go through their contacts with Random House or Shadow Mountain/Simon & Schuster. Thank you for your interest!

Jessica: What was your inspiration for TMR? I think the three things that shaped my ideas for this story the most are: The books ENDER'S GAME and LORD OF THE FLIES, and the TV show LOST.

Jan von Hartz: THANKS for including me in the St. Louis Book Battle. That's so cool and I'm very honored!

Editor Tyler: Any way I can get your autograph? I do lots of events, so stay tuned and try to catch me sometime, okay?

SandPMom: Any relatives in Maryland? Well, I have two brothers and a couple of cousins in that area...

That's about it for now. Thanks again for hanging out with me here, and we'll talk again soon. I hope to see some of you at BYU this weekend!