Bianca: The Brave Frail and Delicate Princess Cover Reveal

There are stages in writing a book that bring extra excitement, a little giggle and thrill, and make it seem much more real and tangible than all those hours of slogging away and editing and revising. Seeing the book cover for the first time is certainly one of them. So I'll share it with you now!

I hope you love it as much as I do. My daughter Callista provided the drawings of the dragon and the princess (she did the drawings in Max's Wild Night and Dottie's Daring Day as well), and cover genius Kelsey Rice made it all colorful, textured, and beautiful.

For those of you who have followed the adventures of my real-life pets, this book is a new direction. It has actually been floating around and coming in and out of drawers in my desk for decades. I'm so happy to have it finally taking form to share with the world once and for all.

One of the things that always amazes school groups I talk to is the length of time it takes to publish a book. Not write it. Just publish it. Even when you do it yourself, there are many stages and steps that involve other professionals who have their own time frames and other projects to work on. With a publisher, authors often wait over a year to see their final book in print. Self-publishing can move a bit faster because you can focus on just that one project, but it is still a journey of many months. For Bianca, we are also going through the full six month review process that many publishers follow. If you want a book review from Booklist or Publishers Weekly or most other large (and influential) publications, they need the book six months before the publishing date. Bianca should be ready to hit the review circuit by August, so that puts us at publication in February or March of 2018.

Yes, it is a long process, but I'm sure I'll be keeping you up-to-date as reviews come in and we get closer to release day.

We are also stepping into new territory with a hardcover version of this book. That's what libraries really need to have on their shelves. Paperbacks are quickly torn and broken by young readers. So I will be figuring out that whole process at Ingram while reviewers are having their chance to read the book. I may even venture into audio book territory. It should be an interesting autumn this year!

I'll leave you with the teaser for Bianca: The Brave Frail and Delicate Princess.

Princess Bianca had never set foot outside the castle walls. Not once in her over-protected, pink, fluffy life. But when a dragon is spotted in the land and fear spread that the monster has conquered the king and his brave knights, Bianca realized that it was her duty to protect her kingdom. She will have to prove that she can be braver and stronger than anyone believed because the threat outside the protection of her castle tower is more dangerous and magical than she ever imagined possible, except in a fairy tale.