Spanish and Catalan Covers!

I'm excited today to be able to reveal two more foreign publisher covers for The False Prince!

This first cover is for the Spanish version, titled El falso príncipe. The publisher is Alfaguara, and should be available on May 23, 2012! The Goodreads link is here, or you can see just the cover below.

The second cover is for the Catalán version (Catalán is a language spoken in regions of France, Italy, and Spain, and is the official language of the country of Andorra, a small country bordered by Spain and France - thank you Wikipedia!), and I think this is released in the same week as the Spanish version. I don't have a Goodreads link, but did find this article here talking about it. This cover sort of blends the original US with the Spanish version. 

If you have Spanish or Catalán speaking friends, please feel feel free to share with them this link! It all works toward my secret (well, admittedly, less secret now) master plan to sell well enough that a trip overseas becomes mandatory!

Shamelessness Unplugged

Okay, I’m going to say it up front – yes, I know. This post is going to be wildly self-serving. So if you’re not up for that, then click here for a much humbler post.

But I do have some good reasons for today’s post. One is that a lot of wonderful people have taken the trouble to write some very kind things about THE FALSE PRINCE, and I wish to acknowledge their efforts on this book’s behalf. The second is that I want fans of the book to have a more complete picture of what is happening with the book. And the third is if you’re reading this, and you are on the fence about whether you want to buy this book, that maybe about halfway through you’ll throw up your hands and say, “Fine, I’ll buy the book. Enough already!”

So here goes:

Official Reviews

* THE FALSE PRINCE received a starred review from Publisher's Weekly, who called it "an impressive, promising story with some expertly executed twists."

* Describing it as "a twisted, dangerous, and all-consuming journey," the American Booksellers Association named THE FALSE PRINCE as #5 on their Indie Next Top Ten Books for spring,

* The very well-respected BookPage publication has chosen THE FALSE PRINCE as its Children's Top Pick for April. They call it "a terrific story that carries readers along to the very (surprising) end and will leave them clamoring for the next book in her trilogy."

* Kirkus states, "Ruthless ambition, fierce action and plotting, complex characters, and lots of sword play and hidden passages keep pages flipping."

* The Trades e-zine gives THE FALSE PRINCE an A rating and says it is a "fast-paced, thrill-packed YA novel filled with believable characters, and layers upon layers of intrigue."

* Booklist states, "Sage is a likable hero full of smart-alecky snakiness. Especially appealing are the friendships he forges..."

* The Horn Book writes, "This book should appeal to fans of Megan Whalen Turner and Suzanne Collins as well as to readers not quite ready for those authors yet."

Blogger Reviews That Made My Day

*One of the most influential librarians, Betsy Bird, wrote in her Fuse #8 blog, that "With enough twists and turns to keep a well-oiled brain humming, Nielsen trusts in the intelligence of her readers to follow along her delightfully complicated path. Their reward is a truly enjoyable book, start to finish."

* The lovely PJ Hoover blogged here about 5 reasons you should read THE FALSE PRINCE, saying, "As far as middle grade goes, it doesn't get much better than this!"

* David Levithan, the editor of HUNGER GAMES and amazing author of a number of books, says in this interview that when THE FALSE PRINCE came to Scholastic, "we were blown away to a degree that hadn't been seen in these halls since The Hunger Games had first appeared - and I don't say that lightly."

* The Bring on the Books blog said THE FALSE PRINCE "could easily be my 'best book of 2012.' It will be a hard one to beat."

* Pages Unbound wrote that "Nielsen has created a very real suspense that is infrequently found in most YA literature...At the end, readers will find themselves rethinking the book, watching events unfold in a completely new light as all the tiny pieces fall together."

* A teen reviewer for Arlington Public Library described THE FALSE PRINCE as "complete awesomeness. Once I finished reading it, I immediately started reading it again."

* Alamosa Bookstore wrote, "Fantasy lovers, if you crave a good adventure, it just doesn't get any better."

* A reviewer on Wattpad says "it's a book that you can't get enough of."

* Another young reviewer on Reading Tween calls the book "probably my favorite book ever...If you like fantasy and adventure and excitement, or if you have a kid, or know a kid, or like kids, or don't like kids and wish they'd shut up and read, you should buy this book!!"

Other Goodies

* Jonathan Hunt from School Library Journal listed THE FALSE PRINCE as one of several promising candidates for the 2013 Newberry medal.

* Scholastic Entertainment has optioned movie rights to the series.

* So far, THE FALSE PRINCE has been picked up for foreign rights translations in the following areas/languages: United Kingdom (Scholastic UK), Polish (Egmont), French (Bayard), Catalan (La Galera), Russian (AST Astrel), Spanish (Santillana).

* And if you want to see the book trailer created by the amazing folks at Scholastic, you can watch it here.

Now, if you made it all the way to the end and you are just dripping with enthusiasm to buy the book, please support your indie first, but you should be able to find it most places where books are sold.

Launch Party Invite!

If you are in the northern Utah area (or feel like getting yourself to the northern Utah area), then please come to a launch party for the highly anticipated release of THE FALSE PRINCE.

It will be held at Wasatch Fencing

353 Market Street

Kaysville, UT

Monday March 26 at 7 pm

There will be food, giveaways for Hunger Games movie items, and some fun fencing demonstrations. Then if you want, you can try your own hand at fencing too! And of course, if you feel like picking up a copy of either the final Elliot book, ELLIOT AND THE LAST UNDERWORLD WAR, or the first book in the Ascendance trilogy, THE FALSE PRINCE, then that's great too!

If you plan to fence, please wear tennis shoes and sweats (easier to move in, and sweat pants don't have belt hooks or pockets that can snag the swords). Minors need a signed parent consent form.

This is a free event, and I would love it if you shared this invitation with friends and family!

THE FALSE PRINCE is the story of a defiant orphan named Sage, who becomes caught up in a contest where he must either impersonate the missing prince or be killed. This book has received great reviews and is already receiving comparisons to Megan Whalen Turner's Queens' Thief series and Hunger Games!

ELLIOT AND THE LAST UNDERWORLD WAR is the final battle between Elliot and the good creatures of the Underworld versus Kovol the Demon and the creatures who are out for revenge, and who plan to destroy planet earth. Rude, huh?

If you'd like signed copies of these books but cannot make it to the launch, please click on the link above and King's English Bookstore will send you out a personalized autographed copy.

And the Winner is...

Many thanks to all who Tweeted, Facebooked (is that a word?), Pinned, or otherwise let the world know about THE FALSE PRINCE. The winner is Stephanie (you can follow her on Twitter @stephthomasbook)! I'll get a book out to you soon!

In other news, THE FALSE PRINCE received a starred review from Publishers Weekly today! Among other niceties, it says, "Sage is deftly characterized through humorous first-person narration, quickly establishing himself as a beguiling antihero: 'I'd never attempted roast thievery before, and I was already regretting it,' he says when readers first meet him. 'It happens to be very difficult to hold a chunk of raw meat while running.' ...This is an impressive, promising story with some expertly executed twists."

I sincerely appreciate the enthusiasm of those who are eager to read this book. I can hardly wait to share it with you too. Ack! If you want to watch the trailer, you can find that here, and if you want to read the first chapter and get a feel for the story, you can read it here.

Want THE FALSE PRINCE now?

This weekend will mark fifty days left until the release of THE FALSE PRINCE (squee!), but I have in my hands a paperback copy now, and I'd love to give it away to someone. Shameless self-promotion to follow...

There are three ways to enter to win. Enter as many times as you'd like:

1. Tweet about this contest. You can write your own tweet, or to make it even easier, you can copy and paste this:

Lose the Game, Lose your Life! Only 50 days until THE FALSE PRINCE release: RT to win a copy now! http://tinyurl.com/76dk7j4 @nielsenwriter

2. You can tell your friends on Facebook about THE FALSE PRINCE. If they share your post with their friends, let me know and I'll give you an extra entry for that too! (Leave a comment below to tell me about this.)

3. You can add THE FALSE PRINCE to your Goodreads "To Be Read" list. If it's already added, then you can find it on a Goodreads lists and give a vote for it. (Leave a comment below to tell me about this.)

This contest is open now and will continue until midnight Sunday Feb. 12.

Book Trailer for THE FALSE PRINCE!

Scholastic created a most wonderful trailer for THE FALSE PRINCE. I only wish it were longer so that I could just keep watching it forever. Granted, that might get tiring at some point for everyone else, but I think they did a great job!

I'll get it up on my website soon, but until then, you can view it here or if that doesn't work, then go here.

p.s. If you know anyone really high in the movie industry (Steven Spielberg's coming over for dinner tonight, for example), maybe you should show them this trailer and say, "Gosh, don't you think this would make a wonderful feature film?"

ARC Winners

I had intended to give away only one signed ARC of THE FALSE PRINCE, but the response was much kinder than I had anticipated, so I'm going to give away two ARCs! I'll notify the winners privately, but they are Ashley J (Maryland) and Leah C (Massachusetts).

If you had hoped to win - sorry, but for the next week I'm still doing a giveaway on Goodreads which you can enter here. And I will definitely be doing more future giveaways.

In the meantime, stay tuned to this blog or the False Prince fan page for more exciting news to come soon!

False Prince ARC giveaway!

Still six months before its release, FALSE PRINCE is getting some great online buzz, including comparisons to Megan Whalen Turner's "Queen's Thief" series and even "Hunger Games." If you want to read it now and judge for yourself, here's your chance!

To celebrate the official cover release for FALSE PRINCE, as well as the news of the movie option, I'm giving away a signed copy of the ARC.

To enter, do one or more of the following (one entry for each!):

1 - "Like" my False Prince Facebook page here.

2 - Tweet about this contest. Trust me, I'll know.

3 - Put a notice about this contest on your own Facebook page, then leave me a comment here about it.

I'll let this contest go for about a week, then notify the winner via email.

I'm running out of ARC's faster than I'd like, so I won't have many more chances for contests. So I'm extra excited to have the chance to give it out today, to a new friend or a long time one!

Big Announcement 2!

The general rule in publishing is that when someone makes a really cool public announcement, they’ve probably been sitting on that news for weeks and sometimes longer.

I’ve been sitting on this news for about six months. Based on that, it should be pretty exciting, right? And I will admit, I’m very excited to finally be typing this.

So here it is: THE FALSE PRINCE has been optioned for movie rights by Scholastic Media. Gotham Group made the sale in conjunction with my always amazing agent, Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency.

Does this mean it’s going to be a movie now? Um, I can give that a solid answer: “I dunno.” But for the record, I’m totally in favor of it happening. If it helps, I can send the studio homemade brownies or something while they’re reviewing the manuscript (although I’ve tasted my cooking – it probably wouldn’t help).

Over the last few months, I've studied a lot about what it means to have an option.

An option gives a production company the right to begin pursuing production (find a director, a studio, a budget – minor details like that). If those factors don’t come together within the contractual time frame, then that’s as far as it goes. A lot of times, this is where the process ends, simply because there are more books optioned than movies that are made.

However, if things do come together, then other terms in the contract start to come into play. They buy the rights for that type of production, which could be anything from television movie of the week to TV series to major studio production. Then the process moves to screenplays, casting, and the all important question – exactly who do I have to schmooze to get to spend a day on set (and how close will my seat be to the catering wagon?)

Stories that tend to get made have to fit a rather strict criteria. Obviously there are exceptions, but generally speaking, the manuscript:

* Should feel different from what’s already been done.

* Needs a concept easy to sum up in one or two sentences (brilliant logline).

* Must have a strong visual potential.

* Should have a three-act structure.

* Must have a wide audience appeal.

* Needs a concept strong enough to balance its budget requirements.

And if the studio can create merchandising for it, well that’s just bonus.

Probably the biggest talk right now for a book's adaptation into film is Suzanne Collins’ THE HUNGER GAMES. Consider how well her book fits each of those criteria. Based on those above standards, it’s the perfect candidate for a movie adaptation and will undoubtedly be a great box office success.

So, does THE FALSE PRINCE meet that criteria? Obviously that’ll be for the studios to decide. Until then, I’m so entirely grateful just to be where I am. It’s still over six months until the book’s release and there are so many people involved in preparing the book for a successful launch. I cannot give them enough thanks.

And if you're a movie studio and you just got the manuscript - brownies are on their way...

BIg Announcement 1!

Big Announcement 2 is coming soon, I promise. And I'm not sure which news is the best or most exciting. So Announcement 1 and Announcement 2 aren't in any particular order; it just makes sense chronologically.

FINALLY, I can publicly announce the cover for THE FALSE PRINCE, to be released in April 2012 with Scholastic. It was done by the very impressive Tim O'Brien (who also did the cover art for Hunger Games - squee!).

For me, I love this. Love it. I'm considering having the design printed onto linen so I can wrap myself up in it to sleep (Just kidding - but no, not really kidding at all). My thanks to the many people at Scholastic who put so much time and heart into the development and direction of this cover.

Here is the story description:

In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

Big announcement 2 will come tomorrow. Unless I get too eager and post it tonight!

More Praise for "The False Prince"

It's still over eight months until the release of THE FALSE PRINCE (April `12), but Scholastic has already been busy. They recently sent manuscripts to several bloggers and bookstore owners, and every so often, comments about the manuscript pop up online.

Please take a look at what Alamosa Books, a great bookstore from Albuquerque has to say here. As a quick excerpt, "If there is a higher commendation of this novel, I cannot conceive of it. And I would challenge anyone else to just try to put this book down unfinished. This is simply a captivating adventure. Nothing is lacking."

My thanks to Alamosa Books for their very kind review, and of course, to Scholastic for all their work so far on promoting this story so close to my heart.

Amazing blog post for "The False Prince"

How does my name end up in the same blog as the amazing Suzanne Collins and Megan Whalen Turner?

Very late last night I stumbled onto a blog post from "Collecting Children's Books" by Peter D. Sieruta that got my heart pounding fast enough to keep me awake even later into the night and woke me up early (I'm a little tired right now).

In fact, the entire blog was really interesting. It starts with well-deserved congratulations to Betsy Bird on the birth of a beautiful new daughter. And it ends with an interesting discussion about how buzz is created for a book - when it works and when it doesn't. To read the entire post, please visit here. (No seriously, click that link!)

But I did want to post a few of my favorite excerpts of what Sieruta has to say about my forthcoming book from Scholastic, THE FALSE PRINCE."

"It all started on Thursday when my bookstore buddy phoned to tell me about a new book she’d just read, THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer A. Nielsen. The first title in a series called “The Ascendance Trilogy,” the volume will be published by Scholastic in 2012. My friend was overwhelmed by the novel, saying she was having a hard time returning to “the real world” after living within the pages of this book for the past couple days. She’s always had an instinct -- and the knowledge -- for picking out “the next big thing” in children’s books and when she loves a title, she gets right behind it. She told me, “I want to sell a hundred copies of THE FALSE PRINCE. I want to sell it to everyone!”

She then offered to let me read it next....

Wow!

Set in a mythical kingdom, THE FALSE PRINCE concerns shrewd and sneaky Sage competing with two other orphans to assume the role of their country’s long-missing prince, now the sole heir to the crown. Reminiscent of both THE HUNGER GAMES and Megan Whalen Turner’s “Attolia” series, the novel is full of twists, turns, surprises. And for those who are somewhat overwhelmed by Attolia’s detailed political and cultural milieu, THE FALSE PRINCE cuts right to the chase, offering a you-can-barely-turn-the-pages-fast-enough story, heavy on dialogue, that will appeal to even the most reluctant reader.

I agree with my bookstore friend: THE FALSE PRINCE is going to be a big hit."

Sieruta continues in the post to discuss how Scholastic sent his bookstore buddy a spiral-bound copy of the manuscript. It was accompanied by a letter signed by my editor and the entire sales team.

Then Sieruta writes:

"Based on the quality and accessibility of this novel, I think Scholastic is correct in promoting this book so strongly.

It will be very interesting to see if both reviewers and general readers agree with Scholastic, giving THE FALSE PRINCE the kind of critical kudos and sales that the publisher seems to anticipate."

Wow, right? I'm completely blown away.