The Trailer: USA Version

Please watch the incredibly haunting US trailer for Before I Fall, below:

The differences between the US and the UK trailers are quite profound, but I think each captures the spirit of the book in its own way. What do YOU think?

UK Book Trailer!

Please check out this gorgeous book trailer, which comes to me (and you) via the marketing team at Hodder UK, my publishers in England. I'll be so eager to see how the USA and UK trailers differ. But for now....

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE UK TRAILER for BEFORE I FALL!

I am so, so eager to here what you all think so please comment back!

xo

Lauren

Starlight, Star Bright, First Star I See....from PW!

:D :D :D (Sometimes emoticons, more than words, really serve best to describe how I feel.)

From Publisher's Weekly:

Before I Fall Lauren Oliver HarperTeen, $17.99 (480p) ISBN 978-0-06-172680-4

Beautiful, popular Samantha and her three best friends are the ruthless queen bees of their high school. But Samantha is living a nightmare: throughout the book, she relives the day of her death seven times, with some dramatic alterations and revelations depending on her choices—ditching school to spend time with her younger sister or, on a day when life’s rules have all but lost their meaning, seducing a teacher. She faces the often tragic consequences of even the smallest acts, awakens to the casual cruelties all around her, and tries to get things right and maybe even redeem herself. If this sounds too much like a Groundhog Day–style plot, make no mistake: evocative of Jenny Downham’s Before I Die, Oliver’s debut novel is raw, emotional, and, at times, beautiful (“It amazes me how easy it is for things to change,” Samantha thinks. “how easy it is to start off down the same road you always take and wind up somewhere new”). Samantha’s best friends are funny, likable, and maddening, but readers will love Samantha best as she hurtles toward an end as brave as it is heartbreaking. Ages 14–up. (Mar.)

You'll Never Forget Your First Time...

So, on Wednesday I got to do my FIRST-EVER book event at Anderson's BookFair (the warehouse corollary of Anderson's Bookshop) in Aurora, Il. And it was AWESOME!

First of all, I was driven out to Aurora from downtown Chicago in a fancy-schmancy car equipped with tiny little water bottles, in case I got a little bit thirsty! The driver thought I worked in the financial industry--it was that fancy. (Either that, or my knee-high five-inch-heeled boots are standard corporate wear nowadays.) I'd been so worried I wouldn't be able to attend, because the day before I'd been completely rocked by the worst stomach flu/food poisoning I'd ever had in my life (I'll spare you further details), but thankfully I was able to pull it together...even if I was not able to eat all of the delicious Chicago deep-dish I'd been hoping to consume. Sigh.

Anyway, Becky Anderson greeted me and immediately put me at ease, as I was super nervous. There were about 40-60 people there--teachers, librarians, and of course, TEENS!--and more copies of my book than I'd ever seen in any place except for my fantasies. First I walked around and greeted each table of attendees individually, and chatted a bit, and then we did a big Q & A session, at which point it rapidly became clear to me that I was far out of my depth in terms of sensitivity and intelligence to the material. These readers--including an incredible group of perceptive and sharp seventh-graders--had engaged so thoroughly and thoughtfully with the book. It was unreal! Some of the questions were really challenging and forced me to think about my own relationship to the book, and why I made certain creative choices, and whether that was the right thing to do.

All in all, it was awesome.

And the best was that I got to put everyone on the case of a title hunt for Book 2, and I've already gotten some incredibly helpful suggestions! Maybe I'll just have them take a shot at writing Book 3....that's called outsourcing, my friends.

Thanks, Becky and all of the wonderful people who came to meet me! You made my first time so special.

Podcast!

Hey all--

Want to hear a RECORDING OF MY VOICE and listen to me answer questions about my forthcoming novel BEFORE I FALL?? Then check out this awesome podcast I did with my fabulous editor Rosemary Brosnan at Harper:

http://harperteen.com/contests/podcast/

You have to scroll down on the page a little bit. . . cool, huh? I feel so official!

--L

Bartulo and Boozing and Books, oh my!

My lovely publicist Elyse Marshall organized a wonderful dinner--filled with copious amounts of starch, chocolate, and red wine (call it, "The Lauren Diet")--on Tuesday night, to give me the opportunity to meet some of the wonderful sales reps and booksellers who have been supporters of my book. Thanks, Elyse!

My wonderful editor, Rosemary Brosnan, got giggly with sales rep Fran Olsen:

Sales rep Jenny Sheridan and I talked tea, while I had the opportunity to welcome amazon rep Deb Murphy back to NYC after a nine-year sojourn in Pasadena, CA. (She arrived just in time for the frigid temperatures, and she still hasn't fled back to California!)

I had the chance to meet Mary and Bob Brown, of the wonderful New Jersey-based bookstore called Books, Bytes, and Beyond. Here is a picture of all of us (minus Elyse, the shutterbug) enjoying ourselves at dinner:

Afterwards, Elyse and I took an ESCALADE back to Brooklyn. It was like starring in a rap video, minus the bottles of champagne, hard-core bling, and scantily clad women in bikinis. But it was still awesome. That's how we do, y'all. That's how we do.

A Dreamy Giveaway!

Okay, terrible post-title puns aside, I am going to celebrate the release of my friend Lauren Mechling's Dream Life, the fabulous follow-up to her novel Dream Girl, by giving away an awesome prize-pack of both books. And you thought Christmas was over...

If you want to win, though, you got to do a little somethin' somethin' for me (hey--nothing in the world is ever truly free!) :P Claire Voyante, the main character in Dream Girl and its sequel, sees the future in her dreams...though she often has difficulty interpreting the meaning of these visions.

So, if you want to enter this contest, you've got to answer my question: What's the freakiest or strangest dream you've ever had? Contest ends 1/18, so come on and hit me back!

Please remember to leave an email address so I can contact you if you win!

Shameless Self-Promotion, Part II (Don't Say I Didn't Warn You)

Hi all...

I'm back in frigid NYC...Somehow, the snow accumulation around my beat-up 2002 Honda just doesn't have the same striking visual effect as a white dusting around the Arc de Triomphe. I was also extremely confused this morning when I could not dial room service for breakfast, and instead had to stomp to the store for peanut butter and a carton of eggs. Sigh.

BUT not all is bleakness and despair! I got an amazing review of Before I Fall this week, and I just had to share. It is here, from Shelf Awareness, an important trade magazine. (My friend the fabulous Leila Sales, also a YA author, is now convinced I am officially "famous"...we'll pretend that's not just because she works in publishing.)

I felt the review truly captured the essence of my book, which is oh-so-nice. I am getting really, really excited about BIF's release, and it's so nice to know that other people feel similarly! Fingers crossed that this will become part of a larger trend. :)

Okay...a less self-absorbed post soon, I promise!

xo

Lauren

Happy (belated) New Year!

Hi hi hi--

Soooo.... I've been on a crazy European jaunt, sans internet, which is why the long delay in posting. It has been a memorable trip, to say the least. Suffice it to say that I have vacationed my way: I have fallen in and out of love at least seventeen times; danced until dawn not once, but twice; and in less than two weeks gone from an "athletic" to an "hourglass" body type due solely to the influence of Swiss chocolates and sausages, and French food of all varieties...and I couldn't be happier about it! I am currently in Paris, desperately trying to enjoy my last few days of vacation.

I just wanted to say a quick happy New Year to all! May 2010 bring everyone all of the happiness they could wish. I've never been one on resolutions, but my friend Lisa has a New Year's tradition I think worth passing on. She always asks three questions of her friends: What are you proud of from last year (2009)? What are you ready to let go of? What are you ready to manifest in, or bring to, 2010?

You can share your answers but you don't have to. Mostly, these are questions I think it important to consider for yourself. I like these because they are questions that suggest the value of constant evolution, not drastic change. Let's face it: figuring out one's long-term goals for the year is way more important than vowing to hit the gym religiously (though, um, I'll certainly be doing that when I get back to the states. I swear!).

xo

Lauren