Category: Publishing

More Indies, More Voices – A Guest Post by Author/Illustrator Parker Milgram

November 21, 2024 / Katie L. Carroll / 0 Comments

Thank you so much to Katie for inviting me as a guest blogger, I am excited to share with you all about my newest picture book, Chameleon in Training.

Chameleons and Camouflage

The story features two chameleons, Commander Jackson and Edna, who have very different approaches to staying alive. Jackson, the camouflage master, is adamant on teaching Edna the proper blending techniques, but she prefers to do things her own way.

The core concept actually came to me when I was brainstorming for an entirely different book. During my stream of ideas, I drew a small sketch of what ended up becoming the spread “Feet Blue” and Chameleon in Training was born. Like most of my book ideas, I didn’t understand the concept right away, I didn’t know what the final book would look like, whether it would be a character-driven narrative or more of a wordless art book. But from the very beginning, I felt so connected with the concept.

The Struggle with Blending In

A chameleon who doesn’t want to blend in? Story of my life. I remember from a young age not fitting in, at first it was due to gender, not conforming to stereotypical gender preferences as a kid, and then later having mental health issues and sensory sensitivities that made me stick out in school. I wore noise-blocking headphones and felt like a lot of people didn’t understand how uncomfortable I was without sensory accommodations.

I think with Edna’s story, I am in a way reclaiming a lot of hurt I experienced as a child, being ridiculed or reprimanded for not being able to do things in certain ways at school, or not conforming to gender norms.

I hope that, especially for neurodivergent readers out there, Chameleon in Training brings a sense of joy, and also reassurance, that your differences bring positivity into the world.

Diversity in Publishing

There is so much strength in diversity of thought, and I am excited to see so many new titles now featuring autistic characters, and characters with other forms of neurodivergence and/or gender nonconformity.

I’ve noticed as my career has progressed that people have given me feedback, saying they like how I “see the world” or think I have a “unique art style.” I think this distinct perspective people sense is at least in part due to my neurodivergence, and it feels validating to have my differences now celebrated.

Post Meridiem Press

Chameleon in Training and my other recent picture book I Live for the Sun were published by Post Meridiem Press, an independent publishing imprint I started to promote content less represented in the traditional publishing industry.

I tried, very briefly, to get a literary agent in 2021-2022, but didn’t receive much interest from the agencies I queried. I hear a lot from traditionally published authors that it takes a LONG time to get an agent, and it’s important to be persistent. This is true, and for those people who stick with it and land an agent and traditional publishing deal—kudos to you.

But, for me, I just felt like I kept writing new stories and querying new agents, and rejection after rejection, no one was getting to read my stories (save for my critique group and close friends/family—you guys are great!).

With my own independent publishing imprint, I have a professional platform to share my work. I don’t sacrifice the quality of work, I put forth my best effort, conducting thorough research for projects and leaning on my critique group for feedback. But I don’t need a “green light” from a team of traditional publishing professionals approving my ideas.

Confidence through Independent Publishing

I think creating the Post Meridiem Press brand has also given me newfound confidence in the direction of my work. I’ve always enjoyed concept development and experimenting with styles in the process. With independent publishing, I feel empowered to pursue any style I want. I don’t feel restricted to a certain topic, format, or design approach.

For my most recent picture book, Chameleon in Training, I worked in a looser, digital style, which I felt best reflected the protagonist’s free-spirited, nonconforming personality. For my picture book I Live for the Sun I went for a mixed media approach, using lots of materials including acrylic paint, gouache, ink, colored pencils, and digital brushes. And most recently, I’ve been experimenting with ink and nib pens. There are so many techniques I enjoy trying and incorporating into my books, a big part of my process is trying to find styles/formats I feel best convey the concept at hand.

I hope creators whose interests may sway from the mainstream feel reassured that independent publishing is a perfectly valid way to produce professional-level content while retaining your creative vision.

My book I Live for the Sun, for example, features a penguin protagonist who becomes depressed and eventually experiences suicidal ideation after his friend gets eaten by a leopard seal. Through independent publishing, I was able to attempt this difficult topic of suicidal ideation, scarcely found in traditionally published picture books, and share my story with a wider audience through stores and events.

More Indies, More Voices

I really do feel there is room in the publishing industry for these lesser-represented subjects and “indie” leaning styles or approaches, which may be more commonly exhibited by neurodivergent creators. I’ve found success thus far in my career by leaning into myself, and I hope other creators share their distinct perspectives as well, because I think everyone’s unique approach and life experiences are what make for compelling, powerful, books.

About Chameleon in Training:

Chameleons must camouflage to survive…or must they? Why not have a disco party and snack on some tasty flies instead? Commander Jackson and student Edna duke it out in this fast-paced, witty attempt at Color 101: The Art of Camouflage. Class is in session!

“Chameleon in Training” is a picture book recommended for all ages. The story may especially delight neurodivergent readers through its celebration of nonconformity.

You can purchase Chameleon in Training on Amazon.

About I Live for the Sun:

When an Adélie penguin loses his best friend to a leopard seal attack, he becomes distraught and grows increasingly depressed. In the midst of peril, a humpback whale comes to the Adélie penguin’s aid and shows what keeps her going through the toughest of times.

Collage and mixed media painted illustrations depict the beauties of arctic nature in this tale of friendship and perseverance.

Recommended for ages 8 and up. “I Live for the Sun” may be a helpful resource for people struggling with grief and/or depression.

You can purchase I Live for the Sun on Amazon.

About the Author/Illustrator:

Parker Milgram is an author, illustrator, and fine artist based in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Their debut picture book and art book No Ideas Allowed! and Book of Worlds: An Artistic Representation of Mental Illness were published in 2021; their third and fourth books, I Live for the Sun and Chameleon in Training, were published by Post Meridiem Press in 2023 and 2024.

Parker’s art has been featured in publications such as The Worcester Review, Worcester Magazine, and CM PRIDE and exhibited at venues including ArtsWorcester, Worcester Center for Crafts, and the Mary Cosgrove Dolphin Gallery. Their current creative projects span themes of mental health, friendship, and neurodivergence.

You can view Parker’s art on Instagram @parkermilgram or see their published works at parkermilgram.com.

The 10-Year, 230-Rejection Journey of the YA Thriller BLACK BUTTERFLY

April 24, 2024 / Katie L. Carroll

Surprise! My YA thriller BLACK BUTTERFLY, book one in the Spy Agents series, comes out May 21 and is available for pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org.

Check out this gorgeous cover by BetiBup33 Design Studio. This was my first time using a premade cover for a book, and I’m really pleased with the result. The designer was open to the small customization of adding in the butterfly mask over the face. It’s the same butterfly image that is part of the chapter headers inside the book.

Sometimes, you see an image and know it’s got the right vibe for the book, and that’s what happened here.

It may seem sudden that BLACK BUTTERFLY releases in less than a month because I haven’t really talked about it much, but this book was a long time coming. I started writing it back in 2014 (nope, not a typo…it’s really been 10 years!). Originally, I sought to have it traditionally published. There was quite a bit of interest from agents and a few editors, and it won a couple of contests. In the end though, it earned over 230 rejections (again, not a typo!) and never landed an agent or a publishing contract.

I shelved it for awhile, but I never gave up on it. Even though it’s quite dark with a terrorist attacks, violence, and torture, it was oddly fun to write. The main character, who has many aliases (we’ll stick with calling her Black Butterfly to avoid any spoilers), is an amnesiac and finds out she’s a government spy. She also discovers that she might not the hero of the story but the villain!

The story is told in 1st-person present tense, which is a very close point-of-view to work in. It was a really interesting writing challenge to make her an unreliable narrator, but (hopefully) the reader doesn’t end up feeling cheated by her keeping secrets. Anyway, the story and the character kept sticking around in my head, refusing to be ignored.

@katielcarrollauthor
Black Butterfly is the first book in the Spy Agents series! It’s a YA thriller with an unreliable narrator, hero or villain trope, conspiracy theories, and dystopian vibes. #dystopian #yabooktok #blackbutterfly #booksyoushouldread #thrillerbooks #spythriller #unreliablenarrator #yabooks #fastpacedbooks #dystopianbooks #spyagents
♬ dont look so concerned – bonnie ⛧

Fast forward to last year, and I started getting serious about writing a sequel with the thought that maybe I’d self-publish the series. Despite the many, many rejections of the first book, I have always believed in it. Coming across the cover image that fit the story so perfectly, I knew that I had to make BLACK BUTTERFLY a real book…not just a manuscript wallowing away on my computer.

I got the proof copy of the book the other day, and it’s so exciting that BLACK BUTTERFLY is going to finally be available to readers! Here’s a little about the book:

Is she the hero or the villain?

Black Butterfly wakes to a country devastated by terrorist attacks, supposedly at the hands of the Chinese government. She remembers nothing of her personal life—not even her name. All she knows is that she was in New York City on the day of the attacks. Though, she soon discovers she has an unsettling repertoire of violent talents.

Elijah and his found family of off-gridders from upstate New York take in Black Butterfly and mend her wounds. With nowhere else to go, she joins them as they head to a rally in Washington D.C. The eclectic group begins to feel like the family she can’t remember—or never had.

An encounter with Luca, a spy for a shadowy government agency, confirms Black Butterfly’s worst suspicions about who she was in the life she can’t remember. As more memories surface, Black Butterfly heads to the agency’s headquarters to find out who’s behind the terrorist attacks. It’s unclear whether she intends to reveal the truth or go back to her villainous way. And it’s more than her life she’s putting at risk.

Pre-order the paperback Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org. The ebook is up for pre-order on Amazon and will be available on Kindle Unlimited.

Young Adult Literature Should 100% Be For Teens

February 15, 2024 / Katie L. Carroll

Do I agree with the article called “YA Isn’t Just for Young Adults”? Absolutely not. Young adult literature (or what is commonly shortened to YA) is 100% for teens. (We’ll get into whether a teen is a young adult in minute.) Does that mean adults can’t read YA? Also, no. Does that mean teens can’t read things other than YA? Again, no.

I’m not presuming to tell anyone what they can or can’t read. What I’m saying is that young adult literature should be written for teens. Period. We don’t need to age YA up because some adults read it and wish that it had more mature content. Adults have their own huge category of books already. Romance novels alone are a billion-dollar industry.

I recently expressed this sentiment in a TikTok video. The text of the video reads, “YA books are made for teens. No one’s stopping adults from reading them. They should still be for teens. Let’s stop trying to make YA for adults, and let’s stop labeling books YA if they’re not for teens.” It sparked quite the debate, which I’m happy about.

Let’s talk about what YA books are, who they should be for, and what’s appropriate content for a YA book!

@katielcarrollauthor
I don’t understand the confusion about YA books #yabooktok #youngadult #yabooks #yaliterature #booktok #booktakes #yaauthor #yaauthorsoftiktok #yareader #yareadsb
♬ sonido original – Verito🌺

One of the most frequent comments on the video pointed out how it’s weird to call books for teens “young adult” because young adult people are ages 18 to mid-20s and teens are ages 13 to 18. I get that, so I created a follow-up video to explain the industry term of “young adult,” which was coined in the 1960s.

While I think debating about whether it’s an appropriate term is a related issue, it’s not the main one. The fact is “young adult” is a widely used term that has been around for a very long time and has always meant books for teens. And everyone–the publishers, authors, editors, and booksellers–in the children’s publishing industry (because YA falls into the bigger category of children’s books) knows this.

But what’s happening in recent years is that people in the YA publishing industry– like YA author who penned the article positing that YA isn’t just for young adults–have been pushing the YA category into older and older content. This means that many new YA books have characters that are 16 and older and content that is more appropriate for older teens and adults.

Why is this happening? Starting in the early 2000s, YA saw huge growth with the rise of worldwide bestsellers like Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The first books in both those series released in 2008 and spawned popular movie franchises. In short, YA books became big money.

Then in 2012, a study by Bowker Market Research revealed that 55% of YA books were purchased by adults 18 and over with the largest chunk of those adults being between the ages of 30 and 44. The YA publishing industry realized that there was a huge market of adults buying YA…thus began the trend of moving the YA market into older and older territory.

Another issue with the label of “young adult” is that it’s being used on books that are actually adult books. This seems to happen most often in fantasy books written by women (patriarchy at play here). Two examples being a A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas and Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. Full disclosure, I haven’t read either of these books, but it’s clear that both of them contain spicy sex scenes, meaning scenes that are meant to be titillating. Spicy sex scenes do not belong in YA.

I’m not saying sex and sex-related topics don’t have a place in some YA books. I wrote a whole post called “Why I Included Abortion in My Young Adult Fantasy Novel” back in 2020, which is about my book Elixir Saved. But labeling books YA when they have sexually explicit content is a disservice to all readers, and it continues to muddy the waters on what YA is.

Young adult books can have all manner of edgier content like gore, violence, and sex. After all, YA is an age category, not a genre, so it contains most book genres, like mystery, thriller, fantasy & sci-fi, and romance. The key is to always keep the core audience of teens in mind when considering what content is appropriate. Also, it’s key to understand that YA is range. What is appropriate for a 13-year-old reader varies greatly from what’s appropriate for an 18-year-old one.

Why is it a problem that YA is skewing older? There is clearly a market for YA books that have more mature content and there’s profit to be gained. But at what cost?

We’re leaving a lot of teen readers behind. Where are the books for the 13-15 year-old readers? Where are the books for older teens that don’t want mature content? What will happen to the book industry in the future if we fail teen readers now? Who’s going to buy YA then?

Teens of all ages deserve books that are written for them. And not just a handful of books. They deserve a wide variety of books and a wide number of books in all kinds of genres. Teens need books that are specifically written for them at all stages of maturity.

Adults have plenty of books to read that are written specifically for them. Adults are guests in the YA space. And those of us who make YA books need to remember that.