Authors are Rockstars Tour Stop: Chloe Jacobs!

Welcome to my stop on The amazingly AWESOME Authors are Rockstars August 2012 Tour! Today, I have the absolute honor of representing District- I'm sorry, the commending "welcome" threw me off-track (or should I say off-tour? Ha... ha?). All kidding aside, though, GUESS WHAT? I'm hosting the amazing 

CHLOE JACOBS

today! Chloe is the author of the upcoming Greta and the Goblin King. Even though I haven't read it yet, I can already tell Chloe is a rockstar because

1) the guest post the sent me was just made of awesome,

2) she's giving away a special little something for this stop! How nice is that?

3) Who doesn't love goblins? And to write an entire book about them! *stutters* I think that's too much awesome for my soul.

When I got the news that I was to host Chloe on this tour, you can imagine that I was excited! I knew I wanted to ask Chloe for a guest post, but there are so many topics out there--and many cliché, over-done ones, too, that I knew I wouldn't want to do--that it really got me thinking. In the end, I decided to go with this topic: 

What do you think makes or break a book? So many good books are out there today, and agents, editors, and reviewers alike have talked about what they think separates amazing from good, or great. What do you think on the subject and how does that influence your writing and choices?

Chloe graciously replied with a fascinating and intriguing post. Read it after the jump!

Hey everyone! I’m so excited to be a part of all the fun and super-glad to be here!

When I was asked to write a blog about what makes a good book into a great book, I was pretty nervous. I’m certainly no expert on great fiction. After all, you’re talking to the chick who lists Talladega Nights and 50 First Dates as two of her all time favourite movies.

Granted, I know what I like to read and I know what I think is great, but at the same time, the things I completely fall in love with could end up being other people’s DNF (“did not finish”) – and vice versa. For example, when I sit down to read, I want a story that provokes a deep emotional connection and has evocative, poetic writing (which is why I love Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver series) but some people want sharper, faster action and snappy dialogue in their reading material, and that’s absolutely okay too!

The truth is that Like vs Love is all about personal opinion. That’s just the way it is. The fascinating and wonderful thing about humanity is that we are shaped by so many different experiences that we can’t all love the same things or the same people. Goodness knows, I love my husband. He’s a doer (he can’t sit still and always needs a project). I love that he’s attentive and a bit hard-nosed too. He laughs at his own jokes. He snores like a freight train. He’s epically stubborn. Like…EPIC stubbornness.

A lot of people wouldn’t consider these attractive qualities in a person. In fact, I have a friend who can’t bear to be in the same room with my husband for too long because he makes her jittery with his abounding energy.

He’s lucky he has me. I’m not kidding either. I’m the patient one between us. The calm one. I’m the one who has the ideas, and he’s the one who executes them. We work together perfectly in almost every way (except we’re both pretty stubborn – just don’t tell him I ever admitted that).

So, I think it works that way with books and readers too. All books have the potential for greatness once they’ve found the right audience. You can take three people who love sci-fi and put a book in front of them. But there’ll be one who likes classic sci-fi a la Asimov, one who likes sci-fi that focuses on the technology or the mechanics of the world, and then there’ll be another one who loves sci-fi that’s rich with character nuance and maybe even has a good romance.

The trick is getting a book in front of those people. The ones will love it because it resonates with them personally. They’ll not only love it, but will shout their love for it to all their friends. And that’s when a book can go from good – to great – to sensational. When so many people have heard about it and had a chance to read it and connect with it, that’s when a book’s “greatness” becomes public knowledge, and more and more people can find it, recognize it, love it. Don’t get me wrong, the more people find out about a book, the more people will not think it’s great too. That’s the beauty of mass exposure.

But of course, us authors, we’re happy when just one person comes to tell us they think our book is “great”. Seriously, that’s all it takes. One person who can truly connect with it, and appreciate the blood sweat and tears that breathed life into those characters.

To me, if I’ve made one person laugh, cry, yell, and then come and beg me for more, I’ve done my job. I’ve made a great book!

But what do you think makes a great book?

Chloe Jacobs is a native of nowhere and everywhere, having jumped around to practically every Province of Canada before finally settling in Ontario where she has now been living for a respectable number of years. Her husband and son are the two best people in the entire world, but they also make her wish she'd at least gotten a female cat. No such luck. And although the day job keeps her busy, she carves out as much time as possible to write. Bringing new characters to life and finding out what makes them tick and how badly she can make them suffer is one of her greatest pleasures, almost better than chocolate and fuzzy pink bunny slippers.

Her debut Young Adult fantasy, GRETA AND THE GOBLIN KING, will be available everywhere in November 2012! In the meantime, check her out online…  

FIND CHLOE HERE: Website||Twitter||Facebook||Goodreads

Greta and the Goblin King
By: Chloe Jacobs
Release date: November 13th, 2012 from Entangled Publishing

While trying to save her brother from the witch three years ago, Greta was thrown into the fire herself, falling through a portal to a dangerous world where humans are the enemy, and every ogre, goblin, and ghoul has a dark side that comes out with the full moon. To survive, 17-year-old Greta has hidden her humanity and taken the job of bounty hunter—and she’s good at what she does. So good, she’s caught the attention of Mylena’s young Goblin King, the darkly enticing Isaac, who invades her dreams and undermines her determination to escape. But Greta’s not the only one looking to get out of Mylena. The full moon is mere days away, and an ancient evil being knows she’s the key to opening the portal. If Greta fails, she and the boys she finds stranded in the woods will die. If she succeeds, no world will be safe from what follows her back . . .

-Summary from Goodreads
Pre-order:  Mrs. Nelson's || Barnes & Noble || Amazon || Book Depository

Doesn't that sound just awesome? Now lastly, I HAVE A GIVEAWAY FOR YOU ALL! Well, alright. Chloe has a giveaway for you. But she's using my blog as an outlet for it, so I will take the credit! Mwahaha! (I'm just joking.) (Mostly.)

What's the giveaway for, you ask? Why, none other than a handmade, jeweled bookmark by Chloe! This is US/CANADA ONLY (sorry!), and just enter using the form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Are YOU excited?