sarahantz

I was so excited when Bev agreed to be interviewed. I think the premise for her book is awesome..... and isn't the cover to die for???








Please tell us about your latest book:

I Was a Teenage Pospicle features Floe Ryan, a cryonically preserved Venice Beach teen and the first human to be 'thawed', who is forced to go live with her younger (now older) sister. (Payback's a beyotch.) It's a super-fun (IMHO!) mix of sci-fi, teen chick lit, romantic comedy and action adventure. (Re the latter: Floe has to keep the cryonics center, where her parents are still, um, chilling, from being shut down.)

How long have you been writing and what made you start?

I've always written stories, just never thought real people could write for a living. So I didn't--until I worked as an editor at a publishing house and saw that writers were real people. I began to think, Hey, maybe I should give it a shot...

Many people spend a long time finding an agent. Can you tell us about your agent hunt?

I'd had a couple of romance novels published without an agent, but I wanted to submit my YA novels through an agent. I got my first agent fairly quickly--probably too quickly. Didn't do enough research. I'm on my second agent now. Even after I Was a Teenage Popsicle was published, it wasn't easy. I only approached four, though. This time I did a lot of research and had a short list. My current agent is one of the four who were on that list. (The other three liked my writing but turned me down anyway! Gotta love this business...)

Everyone loves a good call story. What was yours?

When my first romance novel was published, I was still working as an editor, so it wasn't a call, it was a knock on my office door! I remember practically floating home. There's something really special about getting that first book deal. After my second romance novel was published, in 2004, I decided I really wanted to concentrate on YA, my true love. I had never worked with YA books, so there was a big learning curve. When I got the call from my first agent, with his offer of representation, I was thrilled. I was starting over, and it was great to know a YA specialist thought he could sell my book!

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Don't give up after a few rejections. Even multi-published authors get ideas and books rejected. (You just don't hear about this--it's all about the spin, baby!)

Can you tell us about what you're working on now and what books are coming out in the future?

Right now I'm slammed with revisions on Beyond Cool, which is due to be released in August of this year. I'm waiting to hear from Berkley about another book, also a funny (light) paranormal, and I'm also working on a proposal for a tween series.

Bev Katz Rosenbaum is the author of I Was a Teenage Popsicle and the upcoming Beyond Cool. A former fiction and magazine editor, Bev hopes to channel her inner sixteen-year-old for many years to come. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.