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OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF NYT BESTSELLING AUTHOR CLARIBEL A. ORTEGA
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Is The Witchlings a series?Yes! Book one is out now, book two The Golden Frog Games is out on May 2nd and book three will be out some time in 2024!
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Does witchlings have a sequel?Yes it's called The Golden Frog Games! Every four years, the Twelve Towns gather for a legendary magical tournament--the Golden Frog Games. With Ravenskill hosting this year's games, all eyes are on Seven Salazar, Valley Pepperhorn and Thorn Laroux: the most famous Spares in the Twelve Towns. Thorn is ready to compete as a fashion champion, but when a forbidden hex is used to turn her fellow champions to stone, suspicion lands on the Witchlings. As the Witchlings attempt to unravel the mystery of the stonifications, future Uncle Seven is harboring a dangerous secret: While she's supposed to be able to communicate with animals, the voices she hears most clearly belong to monstruos, and one spine-chilling voice is the loudest of all. Can Seven fix her broken magic and find out who is stonifying the champions . . . before Thorn becomes the next victim? You can get The Golden Frog Games here
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What is the Witchlings about?Every year, in the magical town of Ravenskill, Witchlings who participate in the Black Moon Ceremony are placed into covens and come into their powers as full-fledged witches. And twelve-year-old Seven Salazar can't wait to be placed in the most powerful coven with her best friend! But on the night of the ceremony, in front of the entire town, Seven isn't placed in one of the five covens. She's a Spare! Spare covens have fewer witches, are less powerful, and are looked down on by everyone. Even worse, when Seven and the other two Spares perform the magic circle to seal their coven and cement themselves as sisters, it doesn't work! They're stuck as Witchlings―and will never be able to perform powerful magic. Seven invokes her only option: the impossible task. The three Spares will be assigned an impossible task: If they work together and succeed at it, their coven will be sealed and they'll gain their full powers. If they fail... Well, the last coven to make the attempt ended up being turned into toads. Forever. But maybe friendship can be the most powerful magic of all…
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Are you related to Jenna OrtegaNo 😂 but I love Wednesday and her appearance on Hot Ones was great!
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Can you introduce me to your agent?While I would love to be able to help every author that reaches out with this question, unfortunately I can't. Your best bet is to do your research into any agent you want to query and if they are currently accepting submissions, send them your work (and remember to follow their query guidelines/that you have a polished and fully completed novel) Good luck!
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How can I get published? This is a complicated question! First you need to figure out if you'd like to be published traditionally (with a publisher printing/editing and doing the leg work of marketing your book which sometimes includes an advance) or self-publishing (you do all the work, and it is A LOT, but keep all of the profits.) I suggest doing thorough research into both publishing paths and taking your time before you decide. Once you self-publish a book, you won't be able to query it and once you sell a book to a publisher, it will be very difficult (if not impossible) to get your rights back and self-publish. So make sure you are one hundred percent sure it is right for you! Some things to consider before self-publishing: do you have publishing/marketing skills or money to invest in marketing/cover design/editing/formatting? Do you have time to invest in all of the above? Are you okay with not being in bookstores? For traditional publishing: are you willing to wait sometimes years for an agent or publishing deal? Are you okay with collaborating with an editor and publisher on your book and cover and giving away at least some of your creative control? Are you patient? Are you okay with getting a percentage of each book sale? All these things and more are worth considering seriously before picking your path! Once you have, do all the research you can. Use google, youtube, and get advice from authors who have successfully published and industry professionals like editors and agents. I have included an ongoing list of links in the writer resources section below but I also suggest following me on TikTok for advice on publishing! A very simplified version of what you might expect when you traditionally publish would be write and revise book to the absolute best of your ability>query>find a literary agent>revise with agent>go on submission>get an offer from an editor at a publishing house>publish book in 1-2 years (normally) There are MANY more steps between these (like doing promo for your publisher/interviews etc) and one writer might find it takes them three years to find an agent and for others it might only take three weeks. Everyone's journey is different! For self-publishing it would look something like write and revise book to the absolute best of your ability>design a cover or hire someone to design your cover>format your book for ebook and paperback>investigate distribution>set up on an online distributor>begin marketing 3-6 months before release>release book and continue to do promo Please keep in mind these are incredibly simplified versions of each path, and there are many more steps and sometimes complications but these are the big ones that I think it's important to take into consideration.
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How did you get your agent? I found my agent through the twitter pitch contest #Dvpit! You can find more info on the contest here & hear about my road to publication here!
WRITER RESOURCES
Links to reputable resources with great advice about publishing and writing
Finding a literary agent:
Favorite writing & publishing podcasts
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