Tag: Katie L. Carroll (Page 5 of 8)

Happy Book Birthday to PIRATE ISLAND!!!

October 17, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s been a very long time since I was able to celebrate a book birthday. ELIXIR BOUND first released over five years ago (see how I celebrated that release here). So I’m very, very, very excited to say that I have a new book out today. Welcome to the world PIRATE ISLAND!!!

This is the book I wrote in the hangover period after writing my first book. I needed to write something that felt very different, so I went with a middle grade story from a boy’s point of view. It was an exercise in voice. It was a nod to the legends and stories I had heard about the little island off the coast of my own hometown that may or may not have pirate treasure buried on it (see the Charles Island wiki page for more on the real island…though I’ll be sharing more about it here as well). It was something of an homage to the complicated life of Captain William Kidd (see the blog series on #CaptainKiddHistory for more about him). When I decided to self-publish the book, it became a whole lesson on that process.

I had a lot of fun researching both the island and Kidd’s life while I wrote PIRATE ISLAND. I had a really hard time figuring out the best way to start the book, and a sort of hard time discovering the right voice for it. Even though it’s “finished” (as in it’s out there being read by people and such), I’m not sure I got either of those things right, but I know I at least got them almost right.

So here’s the nitty-gritty on my book baby PIRATE ISLAND. (Much love to anyone who shares the image above to help spread the word about it!)

Buy it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, or where ever you like to buy books (if your local bookstore doesn’t have it in stock, they can order it for you). You can also put in a request to your local library to order it so you can borrow it from them. I’m also running a Goodreads giveaway for a signed copy of it. And in case you haven’t read the blurb yet, here it is:

A thrice cursed island, a legendary pirate treasure, and one not-so-brave boy. What could possibly go wrong?

For centuries, the whereabouts of Captain William Kidd’s lost pirate treasure has remained a mystery. When Billy’s best friend, Andy, proposes they look for it on nearby Pirate Island, Billy thinks it’s just another one of their crazy adventures. It’s usually Billy who ends up in trouble as a result, but he goes along for the ride…like always. The more he delves into the life and death of Kidd, the more he thinks the treasure is real and that it might be buried on the small island in Long Island Sound. Billy—nope, call him William—becomes obsessed with the captain of the same first name. He even believes he’s possessed by Kidd’s restless soul. Now he and the spirit of a long-dead pirate are leading the crazy adventure on Pirate Island. And what they find is far bigger than the treasure they imagined.

Cover Reveal is Live for my Middle Grade Adventure PIRATE ISLAND

April 17, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s here! The cover reveal for my upcoming middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND is live! All exclamation points because I’m so excited to share. Illustrator Susan Tait Porcaro did such an amazing job bringing Billy and the spirit of the book to life. I’ll be sharing more about the cover process on the Middle Grade Minded blog on Monday, May 22, so be sure to stop by and read all about it.

Before I reveal the full paperback spread, which you’ll find exclusively here, I wanted to plug all the gracious bloggers who are hosting the reveal. A big thanks to all them! Be sure to check out their blogs and stop by on reveal day for more PIRATE ISLAND goodies.

April 17

Meradeth Houston’s Write Stuff

Kelly Hashway

C.M. Savage Blog

Beverly Stowe McClure’s The Story of a Writer

Erin’s Rhewsings

Christopher Mannino’s The Poet’s Fire

Strands of Thought

April 18

S.J. Pajonas

Deek’s Rhewminations

Stacy Mozer’s It’s All About the Journey

April 19

Juneta at Writer’s Gambit

Joshua David Bellin’s YA Guy

Waibel’s World

J.Q. Rose

Gail Gauthier’s Original Content

April 21

S. Usher Evans

April 25

Girls Succeed!

April 26

Gail Krause’s The Storyteller’s Scroll

April 28

Brainerd + Fraser: driving blind

May 1

Suzanne’s Thoughts for the Day

May 10

Christina Weigand’s Palace of Twelve Pillars

May 22

Middle Grade Minded

And now without further ado, here’s a special look at the full spread of the PIRATE ISLAND paperback! Coming October 2017!

Sign Up for the PIRATE ISLAND Cover Reveal

April 7, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

Sign ups are ready for the cover reveal of my middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND. It was created by Susan Tait Porcaro and is awesome! I’m so excited about sharing it with the world soon. The big reveal will take place on April 17, 2017, and you can share it on that date or anytime after.

To sign up, simply fill out the PIRATE ISLAND cover reveal form. Thanks so much for helping to spread the word about my latest novel! Here’s a little teaser for you.

Middle Grade Adventure PIRATE ISLAND Is Going To Be A Book!

March 1, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

Last week brought you my big baby news, and as promised, this week I’m bringing you book news. I’ve decided to jump into self-publishing, starting with my middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND in the fall. So this year I’ll be bringing a human baby and a book baby into the world!

This is a move I’ve been considering for awhile now, and I’m really excited about the level of control I have over the process. I’m not setting an exact release date yet because I’m working on a bit of a learning curve and doing much of it myself. And with the (human) baby coming in July, I want to make sure I give myself enough time to get everything done right.

I did hire illustrator Susan Tait Porcaro to do an original piece of artwork for the cover. (No way I was tackling that myself!) She’s a fellow contributor to THE GREAT CONNECTICUT CAPER, and her illustration was a household favorite. It’s been very exciting working with her on a concept and seeing a few early sketches.

How can you help, you ask? (And even if you haven’t asked, I’m going to tell you ;).) Well, I’ll be looking for bloggers/readers/writers/anyone to help with the cover reveal in a few months and of course to help spread the word when the book releases. I’m working on getting ARCs (advanced review copies) set up, so I’ll be looking for reviews as well. I’ll be doing a pre-sale for PIRATE ISLAND, so, ya know, you can pre-order the book when that happens. And I’m going to finally put together an author newsletter, so you can subscribe to that soon for my latest book news.

I’ll have a lot more details about PIRATE ISLAND and the self-publishing process in the coming weeks and months. I’ll leave you with a little teaser from the book.

January #InkRipples: The Cover Process for ELIXIR BOUND by Katie L. Carroll

January 9, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

I originally wrote this post back when I did the blog tour for my YA fantasy ELIXIR BOUND. I don’t think I’ve ever posted it on my blog, and I thought it would be fun to highlight the cover process of my book during the January #InkRipples theme of book covers.

I was lucky enough as a MuseItUp author to have a little input (mostly in the form of an author questionnaire) when it came to the cover of ELIXIR BOUND. That’s not to say that I can take any credit for how gorgeous it is. All that credit goes to my cover artist C.K. Volnek.

The beauty of what she did was to take some of my thoughts on what types of covers I like (I happened to cite the American cover for Melina Marchetta’s Froi of the Exiles as one that caught my eye of late) and a few key elements of the story and integrate them into an engrossing and detailed cover that in no way looks crowded or busy. If I knew how she was specifically able to do this, I would probably quit writing and become a cover artist myself (not really, I would never quit writing).

What I can tell you are some of the details I gave her and how they showed up in the cover. (I’ll be honest, this post is really just an excuse to let me point out all the cool things on the cover!) ELIXIR BOUND is essentially about Katora’s quest to retrieve the main ingredient to her family’s secret healing Elixir so she can take over as guardian.

Let’s start with character. Katora is definitely the central element on the cover. I expected to be asked about how she looks, but what I didn’t expect was to be asked about her personality. The three words I chose to describe her: stubborn, confident, independent. I think the model depicting Katora was a great fit. Her expression and body language were just right. So character: check!

Let’s move onto plot. The subject of the quest is the Elixir, which is prominently represented in the left-hand corner near the title. The objective of the quest is to find the Elixir’s main ingredient, which just happens to come from the tiny white flowers vining their way along the edges. So plot: check!

Next let’s discuss setting. Most of the journey takes places in a forest. The background gives you a sense of the rustic setting with the tree to the right and the mysterious doorway-type thing behind Katora (is it a cave, the entrance to a tomb?). I like how it sets a mood, but doesn’t get too specific because when I read, I like to let my own imagination fill in those details. Have you noticed the mountain range at the bottom of the cover? Did you notice its shape? The mountain range is aptly called The Sleeping Giant and I was so thrilled to see it included on the cover. So setting: double check!

And finally, my favorite aspect of the cover…my name, of course! It’s been my dream for so many years to see my name on the cover of a book and I couldn’t be more pleased with the result.

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Katie L. Carroll, Mary Waibel, and Kai Strand. We pick a topic (January is all about book covers), drop a ripple in the inkwell (i.e. write about it on our blogs), and see where the conversation goes. We’d love to have you join in the conversation on your own blogs or on your social media page. Full details and each month’s topic can be found on my #InkRipples page.