Welcome to my blog! I am the author of PRADA & PREJUDICE, a novel for teens which released June 11, 2009. It's about a fifteen year old girl who trips in her Prada heels-and lands in Austen era England (1815) 
                                                                       

You can purchase Prada and Prejudice on Amazon, at your Local Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Borders, or independant bookstore.

Please visit me at  www.mandyhubbard.com

1) I have been a busy writer girl this week. I completed the outline for Summer 2010 YA, and have 7500 words written of the manuscript. It is going well. I think.

2) Also working simultaneously on my NASCAR fic. I did the math and discovered between the two, I must write 8,000 words every single week. Um, no pressure. ha.

3)I am still over the moon excited about the TIME magazine thing. I actually keep looking at it thinking that there is someway I am mistaken.

4)I also have a 1 page article in THE WRITER magazine (page 14!) for those who want to read it. It's my advice on doing everything you can to be published-- and such advice includes: Know as much about the business as you do the craft.

5)I am getting excited about going to New York in Two weeks!! EEE!! There's a very good possibility I'll take part in a giant YA signing on Saturday, July 25th, so if you're a new yorker, keep that afternoon open-- there may be 10 of us hanging out and signing. :-)

The Uber talented Andie at Air Productions made me a trailer for PRADA AND PREJUDICE!! I <3 it!!





Please feel free to repost!! 

Okay, so for my 2010 book, I am creating a character VERRRRA different from who I am. So I need help getting in the right mindset!

I want her to be snarky, cynical, and yet still sympathetic. She's the loveable outcast!

I need some examples of movies or TV shows with characters like this.

So far I'm thinking: 

Veronica Mars
Molly Ringwald (is it 16 candles or Pretty in Pink I want to check out? I confess I have seen only clips and can't remember which one she's the outcast type.... )
Juno
10 things I hate about you

(THANKS GUYS FOR THE JUNO/10 things suggestions! PERFECT!)

Any other ideas??

Because I am a high-concept type writer, people ask me where I get my ideas. My answer: everywhere.

I get ideas from playing a what-if game, I get ideas from twisting known fairy tales, I get ideas from creating my own biggest fantasies and then  handing them to a make believe character.

But I also sometiems get ideas from seeing news stories.

This story, about a thirteen year old girl surviving a plane wreck when the other 153 peple all died, is a prime example. It's not the type of book I write, but dang, doesn't it make you think?

What if your story took place 3 years later? 16 year old girl, going to high school, getting her license...and living with the ghosts of her past (ghosts being figurative or literal, your choice). Maybe her parents died. Maybe she was accompanying a younger sibling.


It might not be a story I would write (I do fluffy!) but I would totally read it. :-)

I had a phone call with my editor this afternoon. I <3 her. She is a genius.

Anyway, we have agreed upon my Summer 2010 book (the second book in my two book deal) and I am raring to get writing!! 

Sadly, I can't share any details about it yet. It's Super Seeekret. I shall announce it all as soon as I am given clearance. So you KNOW you want to keep an eye on my blog, right?

Until then, you just get this teeny tiny hint....

There will be a life-sized My Little Pony.


Now, to get to work! :-)  

YAY!! It's REAL! I was a little worried it was a rather lame joke when I saw a publisher's weekly review on a library website... but it went live on Publisher's Weekly's website this morning!


Prada and Prejudice Mandy Hubbard. Penguin/Razorbill, $8.99 paper (256p) ISBN 978-1-59514-260-3

Readers don't need to be Jane Austen fans to appreciate Hubbard's debut, a time-bending tale with some Pride and Prejudice elements. Awkward, plain-Jane teenager Callie is on a school trip abroad when she spies a pair of “totally classic” Prada shoes in a shop window and buys them on impulse, hoping to impress more popular girls on the trip. Unfortunately, moments after trying the shoes on, she trips, falls and blacks out. The next thing Callie knows, she is in 19th-century England, where she is mistaken for a duke's childhood friend arriving for an extended visit. With nowhere else to go, Callie stays at the duke's castle, and during the next four weeks, she becomes good friends with the duke's cousin, develops a love/hate relationship with the duke and shocks nearly everyone in the castle with her feminist ideology and numerous faux pas (“You could have heard a pin drop when I asked if they had ketchup,” she says). Part comedy of manners, part romantic fantasy, this fast-reading, playful novel takes the idea of feeling out of place to a hilarious extreme. Ages 12–up. (June)

I am SO thrilled that it got such a great review!! *Happy Dance*

Guess what hits stores TODAY??




Once upon a time, in early 2006 or possibly late 2005, Cyn and I friended one another on LJ. (She's cyn2write , if you want to do the same!)  Back then, she critiqued THE JETSETTERS SOCIAL CLUB, and I crtiqued a hilarious MG she wrote called Me, Me, and Me. I knew when I read it she'd be published someday.

But for both of us, it wouldn't be those novels. We continued critiques, emails, and obsessive tendencies. A year passed, and the emails grew a little more frustrated, but it was amazing to have each other to bounce things off of--- when she had a really tear-her-hair-out day, I'd talk her down...and wen I wanted to scream about the rejections, she'd tell me they had no idea what they were missing.

Finally, in late 2007, Cyn scored her deal. I was so excited I literally cried. I don't think I could have been more estatic if it were me. But as the months passed, and I didn't get that call, I started to think I might get left behind. I was still happy to live the road to publication vicariously through her, but I was sad that our emails might not be as fun if all I did was whine about rejection while she talked about revision letters and covers.

Lo and behold, I sold eight months after her-- and much to my delight, we debut the same month. (Proof that every publisher   and eveyr journey works differently!)

Congrats on this day, Cyn. You deserve it! ENJOY!!

So, I'll give you the full run down by Monday...but Kim posted a great picture and I wanted to share it!

Here's Mindi Scott, Me, Denise Jaden, and Kim Derting! (the other three gals ALL have 2010 debuts!)

Wow. Can I just say how freaking amazing it is to have my book finally, after all this time, be out there for everyone to read? There's something inherently nerve-wracking about that, but it's also jump-up-and-down exciting.

The reviews have started rolling in, so here are a few!

From Chicklitteens.com: "I fell head over heels for this book (pun intended) from the start....Prada and Prejudice is a wonderful, light-hearted romance that I can see myself reading over and over again. 5 stars!"


From Raven: "I give this story a 5/5. It was funny, thoughtful and beautifully written. Callie is a believable character and Alex will make you swoon many times. "

From The Story Siren, "Callie was a very 21st century character so having her wake up in the 1800's was rather comical!... A must-read for Jane Austen junkies!" 

From Lisa at Enchanting Reivews: "This is a fun romantic tale sure to appeal to Jane Austen fans. Callie's adventure into the world of 1815 London was fascinating with everything from huge estates, tight corsets, and hot English dukes. Hubbard creates a believable and likeable character in Callie."


I'm so thrilled that y'all are enjoying Prada & Prejudice!! I hope you will continue to share your thoughts with me...and keep sending the Prada pictures! i am LOVING them!! I don't think we authors truly realize that our work is actually out there--everywhere--until we see pictures of it. In Faribanks Alaska and Birmingham Alabama and down town New York. Totally crazy! 

Yahoo!'s home page currently features the headline, Classic Brands Gone haywire, which links up to an article titled "Bizarre Brand Extensions".

#4?

NASCAR ROMANCE NOVELS.

Yep, the very line of books my June 2010 novella, DRIVEN, will be featured in.

EEE! I'm totally excited, because School Library Journal gave Prada & Prejudice a great review!

Here's a tiny excerpt:

"...this is a fun and charming read, sure to be popular with fans of humor and romance."

Yahoo! :-)

WOW. I have had so much fun for the last few days!

First off, don't forget THIS:


Next, my "MY FIRST SALE" post is up over at Dear Author. Want to know how I reacted the first time I ever received a revision request? Read it to find out!

Also, I have been posting "Prada & Prejudice in the wild" pictures to myfacebook page. I hope y'all will continue sending me your pictures!

I twittered this picture of me signing stock in Olympia, WA. Mad Props to husbands who will take an hour drive with you just to sign a half-dozen books and take a few pictures. (And props to two year olds who will do anything for a dum-dum sucker.)

I have now signed stock in Olympia, Issaquah, Bellevue (both B&N's), Federal Way, and Tukwilla. (All Barnes & Noble's!) so if you are a local and you can't make it to my launch party, you can pick a signed copy up there.

Last, if you haven't yet purchased Prada & Prejudice and you want a signed copy, please order it thorugh Lindon Bookstore. It is my local independant, and they are happy to sell autographed copies.

If you HAVE purchased Prada & Prejudice and you like reviewing books on Amazon, please do so! I firmly believe (honest) reviews help!

Woohoo! I had SO much fun today it's not even funny.




The day started at 8:30, with me looking up all the B&N's in the area and squealing (literally) when I discovered the inventory status had changed to "In stock" at nearly all of them. Yes!!  I wrote directions down in my handy-dandy notebook.









Since I wrote a book called Prada & Prejudice,  I know you want to  know what kind of shoes I was wearing, so here's the big reveal-->

First stop: Federal Way B&N.  They had five copies sitting at the front counter (I had called them the day before) and I signed them. I didn't get the chance to freak out or take pictures, since I couldn't be all stealth and find them on the shelves.





Next stop: Tukwila B&N.

There, I gleefully discovered Prada & Prejudice on a table for new teen reads.  Six copies!! I may have pet the cover a few times. And took pictures. And grinned like a total buffoon.  I found an employee and then signed the stock, and he promised to sticker them.





Next, I headed up to Bellevue, to their branch near the Bellevue Square. I felt very small town when the parking lot gates confused me. Apparently you can only park for free with purchase. (I purchased a cookie for $1.89 instead of spending $5 on parking.) 

At this store, they had four copies in the new section and another under my name.  While I was signing, a man asked me to personalize a copy for his daughter. I should have probably acted less shocked. Oops.

Bellevue has wifi all over outdoors, so I stopped to snap a pic with my webcam at around 11:00, halfway through my drive-by-extravaganza.




















Bellevue has another store about twenty minutes away, so headed that direction. This store ROCKED. When I walked into the teen section, there were four or five teen girls in the aisle, picking up books and talking about which ones they liked. (One had all three of Melissa Marr's out and was talking about them.)  After I signed all five copies and put stickers on them, I put them back. And when I took out my camera to take a picture, one of them stared at me. I said, "Sorry, I probably look psychotic. I"m just excited because I wrote one of these." They asked which one, I told them, and then embarassedly left the aisle and went over to the romance section.

While standing in the romance section I could hear them talk about my book. And one of them started reading the summary to the others, and it was SOOO hard not to slowly inch closer and closer to hear everything they said! But standing there listening to real teens read from my book was the highlight of the entire day for me. I held it together while in the store and then kinda-maybe-sorta burst into tears once in my truck. The cool part, though, is that one of the girls convinced her mom to buy the book.



At the last store, In Issaquah, I signed six more copies, and a woman saw me doing so, picked up a copy and read the back, and then purchased it.















After signing twenty-seven books in five Barnes & Nobles, I went to Red Robin for lunch.








After that, I donned my sunglasses, blasted some music, and headed home.















Now I am at home, watching TV, drinking a diet cherry coke, and wondering how I got so lucky.

How adorable is THIS: 


So cute! Kate at READ THIS BOOK surprised me with it this morning.

And don't forget to read the interview she posted!

So, it's here. Release day. The day I've been working toward for 6 years.

I could start at the beginning-- the VERY beginning, but that would be a bit boring. Suffice it to say that I started on a little site called Fictionpress.com in 2003. That site set the stage for everything I would become. It taught me to write for fun and enjoy every minute of it.

In 2005, I wrote the first book I wanted to get published; THE BROKEN ROAD. It was the longest thing I'd ever written at 85,000 words, and I felt sure I was ready for prime time. At this time in my life, I believed revising meant running spell check and throwing in an extra sentence or two. I queried around a dozen agents and was so sure that it would be just that easy that I simply wrote their names on a single piece of notebook paper and tacked it to a corkboard above my computer.

I also entered two RWA contests, using the first dozen or so pages. It was the best thing I could have done. The entries came back with a lot of feedback, some of which was: Your hero is a womanizing drunk. Your heroine doesn't do anything for herself. They need work. 

I  read the feedback several times and within days, knew they were right. And because revising now meant completely rewriting huge sections, I decided not to do it. No way! Too much work! So I just started something new: THE JETSETTER'S SOCIAL CLUB. I wasn't trying to write YA. I simply wrote about four twenty-something girls, becuase I was 23. Through networking, I ended up chatting to a well-known agent, and she wanted to see the first 100 pages. I sent it to her.

She signed me. It was so simple and easy, I was convinced this meant my path to publication would be short and sweet. I completed the manuscript and turned it in, and she asked for revisions. The biggest change? The four twenty-something year old girls were to become three teenagers.

A YA writer was born.

That April, just after I'd turned in the full of Jetsetters, I flew to Chicago for a conference. There, I met lilrongal , adamselzer , sbennettwealer , and my agent. I remember sitting in that room full of writers an being one of the few agented ones and feeling proud and smug and far too confident.

Five months later my work was still not on submission and I knew my agent was all wrong for me. I fired her. That moment was the scariest moment in this journey so far. My heart was beating wildly out of control when I sent out that letter, and stayed that way as I fired off more queries. One of the people I'd met in Chicago ealirer that year, Carmen Rodrigues, had ended up signing with Zoe Fishman-- who quickly sold Carmen's debut novel, NOT ANYTHING. Carmen referred me to her agent, who requested JETSETTERS. As I am writing this, I just realized I forgot to thank Carmen in my acknowledgements. D'oh! I knew I would forget someone.

In any case, Zoe offered rep, and I quickly accepted. It was the best thing I've done on this path because Zoe is absolutely, completely amazing. By late October of 2006, JETSETTERS began to hit new york. i fell asleep on those few early nights firmly believed I would get THE CALL at any moment.

I didn't. By February or March, I'd racked up a dozen rejections. But some editors did show interest in me. One passed Jetsetters to another colleague to see if she'd want it. And a few asked to see more from me. Zoe sent them a litlte novel called PRADA & PREJUDICE.

It quickly became apparent that PRADA would spark more interest than Jetsetters. The rejections were longer. And we received two revision requests in April. By now, I understood that revising meant more than spell check. I'd completed several rounds with my two agents. I tackled my first editor requested revision with excitement and gusto, sure that they would love what I'd done.

They rejected me. Throughout 2007, the pattern remained the same: very nice, thoughtful rejections. One editor tried very, very hard to purchase it, only to be turned down after several weeks of effort. I revised it again and again and again.

But 2007 came and went, and I couldn't help but scoff at my cockiness at that conference in April 2006. Nothing had gone the way I'd planned.

In early 2008, Prada went out again, to a newer imprint which I'd heard about here on LJ and suggested to my agent. The editor gave me--you guessed it-- a revision letter. But this one was monumental. So big that it wasn't a revision request but a rewrite request. I remember telling my agent that I would do it in an email, and as soon a I hit send, I shook my head to myself. Was I crazy? I'd received over 20 rejections. Many agents retire manuscripts around 10-15. And it was a lot of work.

But i did it anyway. I started from scratch and rewrote it. Around six weeks later, my agent sent it back to that editor.

And I got one of the shortest rejections I'd received to date. I was crushed. My agent said she'd like to send it to Lexa Hillyer at Razorbill books-- for a THIRD time. Lexa had been one of the first to request revisions, over a year prior. She'd seen two versions. Would she even WANT to see a third?

While my agent was overseas at a bookfair, I launched a secret mission: scour the internet for everything I could find on any new editors, imprints or publishing houses. I ended up sending an email to my agent that had eight options. I was freaking out that she'd tell me that she could do her own job thank-you-very-much, but instead she was pleasantly surprised by the work I'd done. She reviewed my list and removed a few names but added some of her own.

In May 2008, the ninth draft of Prada & Prejudice went on submissions to six publishing houses. I'd learned to stop holding my breath. I didn't fall asleep each night dreaming of the overnight sale. I was already wondering what project I should start working on next.

But then I got an email that changed everything. If you want to know how the call went down, check out this video log:
 

I cried. I called cyn2write  and we both cried. I told everyone I knew. I dreamed of my cover. Of launch day. Of endless possibility.

We ended up receiving two offers, and I accepted a two book deal with Razorbill books--and, you guessed it-- Lexa Hillyer. To this day I am awed that she not only read it a third time, but loved it enough to buy it. I guess sometimes the third time really is a charm.

That summer I survived revisions and line edits and copy edits and first pass pages and ARCs and catalogs... it was a dream, every last bit of it, even when I was pulling out my hair two days before a deadline.

All i can say today, after everything, is that it was worth it. Every rejection, every revision, every rewrite, ever tear of despair and joy, it was worth it.

You can never know if you'll be published tommorrow or next year or never, but you can keep trying. And in the end, it was over three years from that conference to my book release, so I'm glad that I didn't know what was truly in front of me. Hindsight may be 20/20 but foresight is blind. Thank god for that.

Looking forward, I don't know what's next on this path for me. Will my book fizzle or sizzle? Will anyone buy it?

Who knows. But you know what? Today is a day that I earned, and no one can take that away.

In all the excitment, I almost forgot! Serena Robar's brand new YA, GIVING UP THE V, came out yesterday. To celebrate, she's launched a month long contest: 

Giving It Away For Free
(the only time Momma would approve)

Serena Robar giving it away for free the entire month of June. That’s right. A book a day, every day in honor of her latest book release Giving Up the V. All you have to do to is sign up for her newsletter and you are entered to win. Enter once and you are in the running to win a book every day in the month of June.


One of the prizes is a copy of Prada & Prejudice! She's stopping by my Book Launch on June 19th to get a copy autographed, so it's even signed.

In return, I will have her sign a copy of GIVING UP THE V, and I'm giving it away right here, right now! You have until Midnight PST tonight to comment on this entry. I'll choose a random winner and email you. If you're the winner and you'd like the book personalized, just let me know, and I'll tell her what to write.

Again-- comment here to enter for GIVING UP THE V, and Go to Serena's site and sign up for the newsletter to enter for a bevy of other prizes!